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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 76101 ***


                     The Sacred Theory of the Earth




                    THE SACRED THEORY OF THE EARTH.

                      Containing an ACCOUNT of the
                        Original _of the_ Earth,

                             And of all the

                            GENERAL CHANGES

               Which it hath already undergone, or is to
                     undergo, till the CONSUMMATION
                             of all Things.


                          The TWO LAST BOOKS,

                 _Concerning the Burning of the WORLD,
                                  AND
              Concerning the New Heavens, and New Earth._

                                VOL. II.

                               _LONDON_:

      Printed for J. HOOKE, at the _Flower-de-luce_, over-against
            St. _Dunstan’s Church_, in _Fleetstreet_, 1726.




                                 TO THE
                                QUEEN’S
                             Most EXCELLENT
                                MAJESTY.


_MADAM_,

Having had the Honour to present the first Part of this Theory to your
ROYAL UNCLE, I presume to offer the Second to Your Majesty. This Part of
the Subject, I hope, will be no less acceptable, for certainly ’tis of
no less Importance. They both indeed agree in this, that there is a
WORLD made and destroy’d in either Treatise. But we are more concern’d
in what is to come, than what is past. And as the former Books
represented to us the Rise and Fall of the first World; so these give an
Account of the present Frame of Nature labouring under the last Flames,
and of the Resurrection of it in the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_;
which, according to the Divine Promises, we are to expect.

Cities that are burnt, are commonly rebuilt more beautiful and regular
than they were before. And when this World is demolish’d by the last
Fire, He that undertakes to rear it up again, will supply the Defects,
if there were any, of the former Fabrick. This Theory supposes the
present Earth to be little better than an Heap of Ruins; where yet there
is Room enough for Sea and Land, for Islands and Continents, for several
Countries and Dominions: But when these are all melted down, and refin’d
in the general Fire, they will be cast into a better Mould, and the Form
and Qualities of the Earth will become _Paradisaical_.

But, I fear, it may be thought no very proper Address, to shew Your
Majesty a World laid in Ashes, where You have so great an Interest Your
Self, and such fair Dominions; and then, to recompense the Loss, by
giving a Reversion in a future Earth. But if that future Earth be a
second _Paradise_, to be enjoyed for a Thousand Years; with Peace,
Innocency, and constant Health; An Inheritance there will be, an happy
Exchange for the best Crown in this World.

I confess, I could never persuade myself that the Kingdom of Christ, and
of his Saints, which the Scripture speaks of so frequently, was designed
to be upon this present Earth. But however, upon all Suppositions, they
that have done some Good in this Life, will be Sharers in the Happiness
of that State. To humble the Oppressors, and rescue the Oppressed, is a
Work of Generosity and Charity, that cannot want its Reward; Yet, MADAM,
they are the greatest Benefactors to Mankind, that dispose the World to
become Virtuous; and by their Example, Influence, and Authority,
retrieve that TRUTH and JUSTICE, that have been lost, amongst Men, for
many Ages. The School-Divines, tell us, those that act or suffer great
Things for the Publick Good, are distinguish’d in Heaven, by a Circle of
Gold about their Heads. One would not willingly vouch for that: But one
may safely for what the Prophet says, which is far greater: Namely, that
They shall shine like Stars in the Firmament, _that turn many to
Righteousness_. Which is not to be understood, so much, of the
Conversion of single Souls, as of the turning of Nations and People; the
turning of the World to Righteousness. They that lead on that great and
happy Work, 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 MAJESTY’s present and future Happiness, shall
be always Dutifully paid, by

                          _Your MAJESTY’s
                          Most Humble and
                          Most Obedient Subject_,

                          T. BURNET.




                         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 fixed, 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 St. _Peter_’s
Philosophy, I suppose, that the burning of the Earth, will be a true
Liquefaction or Dissolution of it, as to the exterior 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
itself.

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 this 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 ’tis 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 farther 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 myself 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 Sense 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 easy 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 ourselves, 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_ ... 1

CHAP. II.

_The true State of the Question is propos’d. ’Tis the general Doctrine
of the Antients, 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_ ... 7

CHAP. III.

_That the World will be destroyed by Fire, is the Doctrine of the
Antients; especially of the Stoicks. That the same Doctrine is more
antient 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 authorized by Revelation, and inrolled into the
Sacred Canon_ ... 19

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_ ... 35

CHAP. V.

_Concerning Prophecies that determine the End of the World; Of what
Order soever, Prophane or Sacred, Jewish or Christian. That no certain
Judgment can be made from any of them, at what Distance we are from the
Conflagration_ ... 45

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_ ... 60

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
exterior 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_ ... 73

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 engaged in this Work_ ... 92

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 exterior Frame
of the Earth dissolv’d into a Deluge of Fire_ ... 104

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_ ... 117

CHAP. XI.

_An Account of these extraordinary Phænomena and Wonders in Nature,
that, according to Scripture, will precede the Coming of Christ, and the
Conflagration of the World_ ... 130

CHAP. XII.

_An imperfect Description of the Coming of our Saviour, and of the World
on Fire_ ... 143

_The Conclusion_ ... 160


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 dissolved or burnt
up_ ... 184

CHAP. II.

_The Birth of the new Heavens and the new Earth, from the second Chaos,
or the Remains of the old World. The Form, Order, and Qualities of the
new Earth, according to Reason and Scripture_ ... 191

CHAP. III.

_Concerning the Inhabitants of the new Earth. That natural Reason cannot
determine this Point. That, according to Scripture, the Sons of the
first Resurrection, or the Heirs of the Millennium, are to be the
Inhabitants of the new Earth: The Testimony of the Philosophers, and of
the Christian Fathers, for the Renovation of the World. The first
Proposition laid down_ ... 201

CHAP. IV.

_The Proof of a Millennium, or of a blessed Age to come, from Scripture.
A View of the Apocalypse, and of the Prophecies of Daniel, in reference
to this Kingdom of Christ, and of his Saints_ ... 213

CHAP. V.

_A View of other Places of Scripture, concerning the Millennium, or
future Kingdom of Christ. In what Sense all the Prophets have born
Testimony concerning it_ ... 229

CHAP. VI.

_The Sense and Testimony of the Primitive Church, concerning the
Millennium, or future Kingdom of Christ; from the Times of the Apostles,
to the Nicene Council. The second Proposition laid down, when, by what
Means, and for what Reasons, that Doctrine was afterwards neglected or
discountenanc’d_ ... 246

CHAP. VII.

_The true State of the Millennium, according to Characters taken from
Scripture. Some Mistakes concerning it rectified_ ... 260

CHAP. VIII.

_The third Proposition laid down, concerning the Time and Place of the
Millennium. Several Arguments us’d to prove, that it cannot be till
after the Conflagration; and that the new Heavens and new Earth, are the
true Seat of the blessed Millennium_ ... 269

CHAP. IX.

_The chief Employment of the Millennium DEVOTION and CONTEMPLATION_ ...
287

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_ ... 305




                        THE THEORY OF THE EARTH.


                               BOOK III.
                     Concerning the CONFLAGRATION.


                                CHAP. I.
                           The INTRODUCTION:
              _With the Contents and Order of this Work._


Seeing Providence hath planted in all Men a natural Desire and Curiosity
of knowing Things to come; and such Things especially, as concern our
particular Happiness, or the general Fate of Mankind; This Treatise may,
in both respects, hope for a favourable Reception amongst inquisitive
Persons; seeing the Design of it is, to give an Account of the greatest
Revolutions of Nature that are expected in future Ages: and in the first
Place, of the _Conflagration of the World_. In which universal Calamity,
when all Nature suffers, every Man’s particular Concern must needs be
involved.

We see with what Eagerness Men pry into the Stars, to see if they can
read there the Death of a King, or the Fall of an Empire: ’Tis not the
fate of any single Prince or Potentate, that we calculate, but of all
Mankind: Nor of this or that particular Kingdom or Empire, but of the
whole Earth. Our Enquiries must reach to that great Period of Nature,
when all Things are to be dissolv’d; both Human Affairs, and the Stage
whereon they are acted; when the Heavens and the Earth will pass away,
and the Elements melt with fervent Heat. We desire, if possible, to know
what will be the Face of that Day, that great and terrible Day! when the
Regions of the Air will be nothing but mingled Flame and Smoke, and the
habitable Earth turn’d into a Sea of molten Fire.

But we must not leave the World in this Disorder and Confusion, without
examining what will be the Issue and Consequences of it. Whether this
will be the End of all Things, and Nature, by a sad Fate, lie eternally
dissolv’d and desolate in this manner? or, Whether we may hope for a
Restoration: _New Heavens_ and a _New Earth_, which the Holy Writings
make mention of, more pure and perfect than the former? As if this was
but as a _Refiner’s Fire_, to purge out the Dross and coarser Parts, and
then cast the Mass again into a new and better Mould. These Things, with
God’s Assistance, shall be matter of our present Enquiry: These make the
general Subject of this Treatise, and of the remaining Parts of this
_Theory_ of the Earth. Which now, you see, begins to be a kind of
Prophecy or Prognostication of Things to come, as it hath been hitherto
an History of Things past; of such States and Changes as Nature hath
already undergone. And if that Account which we have given of the Origin
of the Earth, its first and Paradisaical Form, and the Dissolution of it
at the universal Deluge, appear fair and reasonable; the second
Dissolution by Fire, and the Renovation of it out of a second Chaos, I
hope, will be deduc’d from as clear Grounds and Suppositions. And
Scripture it self will be a more visible Guide to us in these following
Parts of the Theory, than it was in the former. In the mean Time, I take
occasion to declare here again, as I have done heretofore, That neither
this, nor any other great Revolutions of Nature, are brought to pass, by
Causes purely natural, without the Conduct of a particular Providence.
And ’tis the sacred Books of Scripture that are the Records of this
Providence, both as to Times past, and Times to come; as to all the
signal Changes, either of the natural World, or of Mankind, and the
different Oeconomies of Religion. In which respects, these Books, tho’
they did not contain a moral Law, would, notwithstanding, be, as the
most mystical, so also the most valuable Books in the World.

This Treatise, you see, will consist of Two Parts: The former whereof is
to give an Account of the _Conflagration_; and the latter, of the _New
Heavens_, and _New Earth_ following upon it; together with the State of
Mankind in those new Habitations. As to the Conflagration, we _first_
enquire, What the Antients thought concerning the present Frame of this
World: Whether it was to perish or no: Whether to be destroyed, or to
stand eternally in this Posture. Then, in what Manner they thought it
would be destroy’d: By what Force or Violence: Whether by Fire or other
ways. And with these Opinions of the Antients we will compare the
Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles, to discover and confirm the Truth
of them. In the _second Place_, We will examine, What Calculations or
Conjectures have been made concerning the Time of this great
Catastrophe, or of the End of this World: Whether that Period be
definable or no; and whether by natural Arguments, or by Prophecies.
_Thirdly_, We will consider the Signs of the approaching Conflagration:
Whether such as will be in Nature, or in the State of human Affairs; but
especially such as are taken notice of, and recorded, in Scripture.
_Fourthly_, Which is the principal Point, and yet that wherein the
Antients have been most silent, _What Causes_ there are in Nature, what
Preparations, for this Conflagration: Where are the Seeds of this
universal Fire, or Fuel sufficient for the Nourishing of it? _Lastly_,
In what Order, and by what Degrees, the Conflagration will proceed: In
what Manner the Frame of the Earth will be dissolv’d; and what will be
the dreadful Countenance of a _burning World_.

These Heads are set down more fully in the Arguments of each Chapter;
and seem to be sufficient for the Explication of this whole Matter:
Taking in some additional Discourses, which, in pursuing these Heads,
enter of their own accord, and make the Work more even and intire. In
the Second Part, we restore the World that we had destroy’d: Build New
Heavens and a New Earth, _wherein Righteousness shall dwell_. Establish
that new Order of Things, which is so often celebrated by the Prophets:
A Kingdom of Peace and of Justice, where the Enemy of Mankind shall be
bound, and the Prince of Peace shall rule. A Paradise without a Serpent,
and a Tree of Knowledge, not to wound, but to heal the Nations: Where
will be neither _Curse_, nor _Pain_, nor _Death_, nor _Disease_: Where
all Things are new, all Things are more perfect, both the World it self,
and its Inhabitants: Where the First-born from the Dead, have the
First-fruits of Glory.

We dote upon this present World, and the Enjoyments of it: And ’tis not
without Pain, and Fear, and Reluctancy, that we are torn from them; as
if our Hopes lay all within the Compass of this Life. Yet, I know not by
what good Fate, my Thoughts have been always fix’d upon Things to come,
more than upon Things present. These I know, by certain Experience, to
be but Trifles; and if there be nothing more considerable to come, the
whole Being of Man is no better than a Trifle. But there is Room enough
before us in that we call _Eternity_, for great and noble Scenes; and
the Mind of Man feels itself lessen’d and straiten’d in this low and
narrow State; wishes and waits to see something greater. And if it could
discern another World a coming, on this side Eternal Life: a beginning
Glory, the best that Earth can bear, it would be a kind of Immortality
to enjoy that Prospect before-hand. To see, when this Theatre is
dissolv’d, where we shall act next, and what Parts; what Saints and
Heroes, if I may so say, will appear upon that Stage; and with what
Lustre and Excellency: How easy would it be, under a View of these
Futurities, to despise the little Pomps and Honours, and the Momentary
Pleasures of a mortal Life? But I proceed to our Subject.




                                CHAP. II
             _The true State of the Question is propos’d._


    _’Tis the general Doctrine of the Antients, 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._


When we speak of the End or Destruction of the World, whether by Fire or
otherwise, ’tis not to be imagin’d that we understand this of the _Great
Universe_; Sun, Moon, and Stars, and the highest Heavens; as if these
were to perish or be destroy’d some few Years hence, whether by Fire or
any other Way. This Question is only to be understood of the _sublunary
World_, of this Earth and its Furniture; which had its Original about
Six thousand Years ago, according to the History of _Moses_; and hath
once already been destroyed, when the Exterior Region of it broke, and
the Abyss, issuing forth, as out of a Womb, overflow’d all the habitable
Earth, _Gen. vii. 17._ _Job xxxviii. 8._ The next Deluge is that of
Fire; which will have the same Bounds, and overflow the Surface of the
Earth, much what in the same Manner. But the Cœlestial Regions, where
the Stars and Angels inhabit, are not concerned in this Fate: Those are
not made of combustible Matter; nor, if they were, could our Flames
reach them. Possibly those Bodies may have Changes and Revolutions
peculiar to themselves, but in Ways unknown to us, and after long and
unknown Periods of Time. Therefore, when we speak of the Conflagration
of the World, these have no Concern in the Question; nor any other Part
of the Universe, than the Earth and its Dependances. As will evidently
appear when we come to explain the Manner and Causes of the
Conflagration.

And as this Conflagration can extend no farther than to the Earth and
its Elements, so neither can it destroy the Matter of the Earth; but
only the Form and Fashion of it, as it is an habitable World. Neither
Fire, nor any natural Agent, can destroy Matter, that is, reduce it to
nothing: It may alter the Modes and Qualities of it, but the Substance
will always remain. And accordingly the Apostle, when he speaks of the
Mutability of this World, says only, _The Figure_ or Fashion of _this
World passes away_, _1 Cor. vii. 31._ This Structure of the Earth and
Disposition of the Elements; and all the _Works_ of the Earth, as St.
_Peter_ says, _2 Epist. iii._ all its natural Productions, and all the
Works of Art or human Industry; these will perish, be melted or torn in
Pieces by the Fire; but without an Annihilation of the Matter, any more
than in the former Deluge. And this will be farther prov’d and
illustrated in the Beginning of the following Books.

The Question being thus stated, we are next to consider the Sense of
Antiquity upon these two Points: First, Whether this sublunary World is
mutable and perishable: Secondly, By the Force and Action of what
Causes, and in what Manner, it will perish; whether by Fire, or
otherwise. _Aristotle_ is very irregular in his Sentiments about the
State of the World; he allows it neither Beginning nor Ending, Rise nor
Fall; but wou’d have it eternal and immutable. And this he understands,
not only of the great Universe, but of this sublunary World, this Earth
which we inhabit; wherein he will not admit there ever have been, or
ever will be, either general Deluges or Conflagrations. And, as if he
was ambitious to be thought singular in his Opinion about the Eternity
of the World, he says, _All_ the _Antients_ before him, gave some
Beginning or Origin to the World; but were not, indeed, so unanimous as
to its future Fate: Some believing it immutable, or, as the Philosophers
call it, incorruptible; others, That it had its fatal Times and Periods,
as lesser Bodies have; and a Term of Age prefix’d to it by Providence.

But before we examine this Point any farther, it will be necessary to
reflect upon that which we noted before, an Ambiguity in the Use of the
Word _World_, which gives frequent Occasion of Mistakes in reading the
Ancients: When that which they speak of the _great Universe_, we apply
to the _sublunary World_: Or, on the contrary, what they speak of this
Earth, we extend to the whole Universe. And if some of them, besides
_Aristotle_, made the World incorruptible, they might mean that of the
_great Universe_, which they thought would never be dissolv’d or perish
as to its Mass and Bulk: But single Parts and Points of it (and our
Earth is no more) may be variously transform’d, and made habitable and
unhabitable, according to certain Periods of Time, without any Prejudice
to their Philosophy. So _Plato_, for Instance, thinks this World will
have no Dissolution: For, being a Work so beautiful and noble, the
Goodness of God, he says, will always preserve it. It is most reasonable
to understand this of the great Universe; For, in our Earth, _Plato_
himself admits such Dissolutions as are made by general Deluges and
Conflagrations; and we contend for no other. So likewise in other
Authors, if they speak of the Immortality of the World, you must observe
what World they apply it to; and whether to the Matter or the Form of
it: And if you remember that our Discourse proceeds only upon the
sublunary World, and the Dissolution of its Form, you will find little
in Antiquity contrary to this Doctrine. I always except _Aristotle_ (who
allow’d of no Providence in this inferior World) and some _Pythagoreans_
falsly so call’d, being either fictitious Authors, or Apostates from the
Doctrine of their Master. These being excepted, upon a View of the rest,
you will find very few Dissenters from this general Doctrine.

_Plato_’s Argument against the Dissolution of the World, from the
Goodness and Wisdom of God, would not be altogether unreasonable, tho’
apply’d to this Earth, if it was so to be dissolv’d, as never to be
restor’d again. But we expect _New Heavens_ and a _New Earth_, upon the
Dissolution of these; better in all Respects, more commodious, and more
beautiful. And the several Perfections of the Divine Nature, Wisdom,
Power, Goodness, Justice, Sanctity, cannot be so well display’d and
exemplify’d in any one single State of Nature, as in a Succession of
States, fitted to receive one another according to the Dispositions of
the moral World, and the Order of Divine Providence. Wherefore,
_Plato_’s Argument from the Divine Attributes, all Things consider’d,
doth rather prove a Succession of Worlds, than that one single World
should remain the same throughout all Ages, without Change or Variation.
Next to the _Platonists_, the _Stoicks_ were most considerable in
Matters relating to Morality and Providence: And their Opinion, in this
Case, is well known; they being look’d upon by the Moderns, as the
principal Authors of the Doctrine of the _Conflagration_. Nor is it less
known that the School of _Democritus_ and _Epicurus_, made all their
Worlds subject to Dissolution; and by a new Concourse of Atoms restor’d
them again. Lastly, The _Ionick_ philosophers, who had _Thales_ for
their Master, and were the first Naturalists amongst the _Greeks_,
taught the same Doctrine. We have, indeed, but an imperfect Account left
us of this Sect, and ’tis great Pity; for as it was one of the most
antient, so it seems to have been one of the most considerable amongst
the _Greeks_ for Natural Philosophy. In those Remains which _Diogenes
Laertius_ hath preserv’d, of _Anaxagoras_, _Anaximenes_, _Archelaus_,
&c. all great Men in their Time; we find that they treated much of the
Origin of the World, and had many extraordinary Notions about it, which
come lame and defective to us. The Doctrine of their Founder, _Thales_,
which made all Things to consist of Water, seems to have a great
Resemblance to the Doctrine of _Moses_ and St. _Peter_ about the
Constitution of the first Heavens and Earth, _Gen. i._ _2 Pet. ii. 5._
But there is little in _Laertius_, what their Opinion was about the
Dissolution of the World; other Authors inform us more of that.
_Stobæus_, _Ecl. Phys. l. 1. c. 24_, joins them with _Leucippus_ and the
_Epicureans_: _Simplicius_ with _Heraclitus_, and the _Stoicks_, in this
Doctrine about the Corruptibility of the World. So that all the Schools
of the _Greek_ Philosophers, as we noted before, were unanimous in this
Point, excepting the _Peripateticks_; whose Master, _Aristotle_, had
neither Modesty enough to follow the Doctrine of his Predecessors, nor
Wit enough to invent any Thing better.

Besides these Sects of Philosophers, there were Theologers amongst the
_Greeks_, more Antient than these Sects, and more Mystical. _Aristotle_
often distinguisheth the _Naturalists_, and the _Theologues_, Οἱ
φυσικοὶ, οἱ θεόλογοι. Such were _Orpheus_ and his Followers, who had
more of the antient Oriental Learning, than the succeeding Philosophers.
But they writ their Philosophy, or Theology rather, Mythologically and
Poetically, in Parables and Allegories, that needed an Interpretation.
All these Theologers supposed the Earth to rise from a Chaos; and as
they said that _Love_ was the Principle at first, that united the loose
and severed Elements, and formed them into an habitable World; so they
supposed that if _Strife_ or _Contention_ prevail’d, that would again
dissolve and disunite them, and reduce Things into a Chaos; such as the
Earth will be in, upon the Conflagration. And it farther appears, that
both these Orders of the Learned in _Greece_, suppos’d this present
Frame of Nature might perish, by their Doctrine of _Periodical
Revolutions_, or of the Renovation of the World after certain Periods of
Time; which was a Doctrine common amongst the Learned _Greeks_, and
received by them from the ancient Barbarick Nations: As will appear more
at large in the following Book, _Ch. 3._ In the mean Time we may
observe, that _Origen_ in answering _Celsus_, _Lib. 9._ about the Point
of the Resurrection, tells him, That Doctrine ought not to appear so
strange or ridiculous to him, seeing their own Authors did believe and
teach the _Renovation of the World_, after certain Ages or Periods. And
the Truth is, this Renovation of the World, rightly stated, is the same
Thing with the _First Resurrection_ of the Christians. And as to the
second and general Resurrection, when the Righteous shall have Cœlestial
Bodies; ’tis well known, that the _Platonists_ and _Pythagoreans_
cloathed the Soul with a Cœlestial Body, or, in their Language, an
Æthereal Vehicle, as her last Beatitude or Glorification. So that
_Origen_ might very justly tell his Adversary, he had no Reason to
ridicule the Christian Doctrine of the Resurrection, seeing their own
Authors had the main Strokes of it in their Traditionary Learning.

I will only add one Remark more, before we leave this Subject, to
prevent a Mistake in the Word _Immortal_ or _Immortality_, when applied
to the World. As I told you before, the Equivocation that was in that
Term _World_, it being us’d sometimes for the whole Universe, sometimes
for this inferior Part of it where we live; so likewise we must observe,
that when this inferior World is said to be _Immortal_, by the
Philosophers, as sometimes it is, that commonly is not meant of any
single State of Nature, or any single World, but of a Succession of
Worlds, consequent one upon another. As a Family may be said Immortal,
not in any single Person, but in a Succession of Heirs. So as, many
Times, when the Ancients mention the Immortality of the World, they do
not thereby exclude the Dissolution or Renovation of it; but suppose a
Vicissitude, or Series of Worlds succeeding one another. This
Observation is not mine, but was long since made by _Simplicius_,
_Stobæus_, and others, who tell us in what Sense some of those
Philosophers who allowed the World to be perishable, did yet affirm it
to be immortal: Namely, by successive Renovations.

Thus much is sufficient to shew the Sense and Judgment of Antiquity, as
to the Changeableness or Perpetuity of the World. But ancient Learning
is like ancient Medals, more esteem’d for their Rarity, than their real
Use; unless the Authority of a Prince make them currant: So neither will
these Testimonies be of any great Effect, unless they be made good and
valuable by the Authority of Scripture. We must therefore add the
Testimonies of the Prophets and Apostles, to these of the _Greeks_ and
_Barbarians_, that the Evidence may be full and undeniable. That the
Heavens and the Earth will perish, or be chang’d into another Form, is,
sometimes, plainly express’d, sometimes suppos’d and alluded to in
Scripture. The Prophet _David_’s Testimony is express, both for the
Beginning and Ending of the World: In _Psal. cii. ver. 25, 26, 27_. _Of
old hast thou laid the Foundation of the Earth, and the Heavens are the
Work of thy Hands. They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: Yea, all of
them shall wax old like a Garment; as a Vesture shalt thou change them,
and they shall be changed. But thou art the same, and thy Years shall
have no End._ The Prophet _Isaiah_’s Testimony is no less express, to
the same Purpose, _ch. li. 6._ _Lift up your Eyes to the Heavens, and
look upon the Earth beneath: For the Heavens shall vanish away like
Smoke, and the Earth shall wax old like a Garment, and they that dwell
therein shall die in like Manner._ These Texts are plain and explicit;
and in Allusion to this Day of the Lord, and this Destruction of the
World, the same Prophet often useth Phrases that relate to it: As the
_Concussion of the Heavens and the Earth, Isa. xiii. 13._ The _shaking
of the Foundations of the World, ch. xxiv. 18, 19._ The _Dissolution of
the Host of Heaven, ch. xxxiv. 4._ And our Sacred Writers have
Expressions of the like Force, and relating to the same Effect: As the
_Hills melting like Wax, at the Presence of the Lord, Psal. xcvii. 5._
Shattering _once more_ all the Parts of the Creation, _Hagg. ii. 6._
_Overturning the Mountains, and making the Pillars of the Earth to
tremble, Job ix. 5, 6._ If you reflect upon the Explication given of the
Deluge, in the first Part of this Theory, and attend to the Manner of
the Conflagration, as it will be explain’d in the Sequel of this
Discourse, you will see the Justness and Fitness of these Expressions:
That they are not Poetical Hyperboles, or random Expressions of great
and terrible Things in general, but a true Account of what hath been, or
will be, at that great Day of the Lord. ’Tis true, the Prophets
sometimes use such like Expressions figuratively, for Commotion in
States and Kingdoms, but that is only by way of Metaphor and
Accommodation; the true Basis they stand upon, is, That Ruin, Overthrow,
and Dissolution of the Natural World, which was once at the Deluge, and
will be again, after another Manner, at the general Conflagration.

As to the New Testament, our Saviour says, _Heaven and Earth shall pass
away, but his Words shall not pass away, Mat. xxiv. 35._ St. _Paul_
says, the _Scheme of this World_; the Fashion, Form, and Composition of
it, _passeth away, 1 Cor. vii. 31._ And when mention is made of _New
Heavens_ and a _New Earth_, which both the Prophet _Isaiah_, _Isa. lxv.
17. & lxvi. 22._ and the Apostles St. _Peter_ and St. _John_, _Rev. xxi.
1._ _2 Pet._ _iii. 13._ mention, ’tis plainly imply’d, that the Old ones
will be dissolv’d. The same Thing is also imply’d, when our Saviour
speaks of a _Renascency_, or _Regeneration_, _Mat. xix. 28._ and St.
_Peter_, of a _Restitution_ of all Things, _Acts iii. 21._ For what is
now, must be abolish’d, before any former Order of Things can be
restor’d or reduced. In a Word, If there was nothing in Scripture
concerning this Subject, but that Discourse of St. _Peter_’s, in his
Second Epistle, and Third Chapter, concerning the triple Order and
Successions of the Heavens and the Earth, past, present, and to come;
that alone would be a Conviction, and Demonstration to me, that this
present World will be dissolv’d.

You will say, it may be, in the last Place, we want still the Testimony
of Natural Reason and Philosophy, to make the Evidence complete. I
answer, ’tis enough if they be silent, and have nothing to say to the
contrary. Here are Witnesses, Human and Divine, and if none appear
against them, we have no reason to refuse their Testimony, or to
distrust it. Philosophy will very readily yield to this Doctrine, that
all material Compositions are dissolvable; and she will not wonder to
see that die, which she had seen born: I mean this terrestrial World.
She stood upon the Chaos, and saw it roll itself, with Difficulty, and
after many Strugglings, into the form of an habitable Earth: And that
Form she saw broken down again at the Deluge; and can as little hope or
expect, now, as then, that it should be everlasting and immutable. There
would be nothing great or considerable in this inferior World, if there
were not such Revolutions of Nature. The Seasons of the Year, and the
fresh Productions of the Spring, are pretty in their Way; but when the
(_Annus Magnus_) _Great Year_ comes about, with a new Order of all
Things, in the Heavens, and on the Earth; and a new Dress of Nature
throughout all her Regions, far more goodly and beautiful than the
fairest Spring; this gives a new Life to the Creation, and shews the
Greatness of its Author. Besides, these fatal Catastrophes are always a
Punishment to degenerate Mankind, that are overwhelm’d in the Ruins of
these perishing Worlds. And to make Nature herself execute the Divine
Vengeance against rebellious Creatures, argues both the Power and Wisdom
of that Providence that governs all Things here below. These Things
Reason and Philosophy approve of; but if you further require, that they
should shew a _Necessity_ of this future Destruction of the World, from
_natural Causes_, with the Time, and all other Circumstances of this
Effect; your Demands are unreasonable, seeing these Things do not depend
solely upon Nature. But if you will content yourself to know what
Dispositions there are in Nature towards such a Change; how it may
begin, proceed, and be consummate, under the Conduct of Providence, be
pleased to read the following Discourse, for your further Satisfaction.




                               CHAP. III.


    _That the World will be destroy’d by Fire, is the Doctrine of the
    Ancients, especially of 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 expressly authorized by Revelation, and
    inroll’d into the Sacred Canon._


That the present World, or the present Frame of Nature, will be
destroy’d, we have already shewn. In what Manner this Destruction will
be, by what Force, or what kind of Fate, must be our next Enquiry. The
Philosophers have always spoken of _Fire_ and _Water_, those Two unruly
Elements, as the only Causes that can destroy the World, and work our
Ruin; and accordingly, they say, all the great and fatal Revolutions of
Nature, either past, or to come, depend upon the Violence of these Two;
when they get the Mastery, and overwhelm all the rest, and the whole
Earth, in a Deluge, or Conflagration. But, as they make these Two the
destroying Elements, so they also make them the purifying Elements. And,
accordingly in their Lustrations, or their Rites and Ceremonies for
purging Sin; Fire and Water were chiefly made use of, both amongst the
_Romans_, _Greeks_, and _Barbarians_. And when these Elements over-run
the World, it is not, they say, for a final Destruction of it, but to
purge Mankind, and Nature from their Impurities. As for Purgation by
Fire and Water, the Stile of our Sacred Writings does very much
accommodate itself to that Sense; and the Holy Ghost, who is the great
Purifier of Souls, is compared in his Operation upon us, and in our
Regeneration, to Fire or Water. And as for the external World, S.
_Peter_, _1 Ep. iii. 21._ makes the Flood to have been a kind of
_Baptizing_ or Renovation of the World. And S. _Paul_, _1 Cor. iii. 13._
and the Prophet _Malachi_, _c. iii. 2, 3._ makes the last Fire, to be a
purging and refining Fire. But to return to the Ancients.

The _Stoicks_ especially, of all other Sects amongst the _Greeks_, have
preserved the Doctrine of the Conflagration; and made it a considerable
Part of their Philosophy, and almost a Character of their Order. This is
a Thing so well known, that I need not use any Citations to prove it.
But they cannot pretend to have been the first Authors of it neither.
For, besides that amongst the _Greeks_ themselves, _Heraclitus_ and
_Empedocles_, more ancient than _Zeno_, the Master of the _Stoicks_,
taught this Doctrine; ’tis plainly a Branch of the Barbarick Philosophy,
and taken from thence by the _Greeks_. For it is well known, that the
most ancient and mystick Learning amongst the _Greeks_, was not
originally their own, but borrowed of the more Eastern Nations, by
_Orpheus_, _Pythagoras_, _Plato_, and many more, who travell’d thither,
and traded with the Priests for Knowledge and Philosophy; and when they
got a competent Stock, returned home, and set up a School, or a Sect, to
instruct their Countrymen. But before we pass to the Eastern Nations,
let us, if you please, compare the _Roman_ Philosophy upon this Subject,
with that of the _Greeks_.

The _Romans_ were a great People, that made a Shew of Learning, but had
little, in reality, more than Words and Rhetorick. Their Curiosity or
Emulation in Philosophical Studies was so little, that it did not make
different Sects and Schools amongst them, as amongst the _Greeks_. I
remember no Philosophers they had, but such as _Tully_, _Seneca_, and
some of their Poets. And of these _Lucretius_, _Lucan_, and _Ovid_, have
spoken openly of the Conflagration. _Ovid_’s Verses are well known,

         _Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur, affore tempus,
         Quo mare, quo tellus, correptaque regia Cœli
         Ardeat, & mundi moles operosa laboret._

         _A Time decreed by Fate, at length will come,
         When Heavens, and Earth, and Seas, shall have their Doom;
         A fiery Doom: And Nature’s mighty Frame,
         Shall break, and be dissolv’d into a Flame._

We see _Tully_’s Sense upon this Matter, in _Scipio_’s _Dream_. When the
old Man speaks to his Nephew _Africanus_, and shews him from the Clouds,
this Spot of Earth, where we live; he tells him, tho’ our Actions should
be great, and Fortune favour them with Success, yet there wou’d be no
Room for any lasting Glory in this World; for the World itself, is
transient and fugitive. And a Deluge, or a Conflagration, which
necessarily happen after certain Periods of Time, will sweep away all
Records of human Actions. As for _Seneca_, he being a profess’d
_Stoick_, we need not doubt of his Opinion in this Point. We may add
here, if you please, the _Sybelline Verses_, which were kept, with great
Religion, in the Capitol at _Rome_, and consulted with much Ceremony
upon solemn Occasions. These _Sybils_, were the Prophetesses of the
_Gentiles_; and tho’ their Writings now have many spurious Additions,
yet none doubt but that the Conflagration of the World, was one of their
original Prophecies.

Let us now proceed to the Eastern Nations. As the _Romans_ received the
small Skill they had in the Sciences, from the _Greeks_; so the
_Greeks_, receiv’d their chief Mystick Learning from the _Barbarians_:
That is, from the _Ægyptians_, _Persians_, _Phœnicians_, and other
Eastern Nations; for ’tis not only the Western, or Northern People, that
they called _Barbarians_, but indeed, all Nations besides themselves.
For that is commonly the Vanity of great Empires, to uncivilize, in a
Manner, all the rest of the World; and to account all those People
_barbarous_, that are not subject to their Dominion. These however, whom
they called so, were the most ancient People, and had the first Learning
that was ever heard of after the Flood. And amongst these, the
_Ægyptians_ were as famous as any; whose Sentiments in this particular
of the Conflagration, are well known. For _Plato_, who liv’d amongst
them several Years, tells us in his _Timæus_, that it was the Doctrine
of their Priests, that the fatal Catastrophes of the World, were by
_Fire_ and _Water_. In like manner, the _Persians_ made their beloved
God, _Fire_, at length to consume all Things that are capable of being
consum’d: For that is said to have been the Doctrine of _Hydaspes_, one
of their great _Magi_, or Wise Men. As to the _Phœnicians_, I suspect
very much, that the _Stoicks_ had their Philosophy from them (_Just.
Mar. Apol. 2._) and amongst other Things the Conflagration. We shall
take Notice of that hereafter.

But to comprehend the _Arabians_ also, and _Indians_, give me leave to
reflect a little upon the Story of the _Phœnix_. A Story well known, and
related by some ancient Authors, and is in short this: The _Phœnix_,
they say, is a Bird in _Arabia_, _India_, and those Eastern Parts,
single in her Kind, never more than one at a Time, and very long-lived;
appearing only at the Expiration of the _Great Year_, as they call it:
And when she makes herself a Nest of Spices, which being set on fire by
the Sun, or some other secret Power, she hovers upon it, and consumes
herself in the Flames. But, which is most wonderful, out of these Ashes
riseth a second _Phœnix_, so that it is not so much a Death, as a
Renovation. I do not doubt but the Story is a Fable, as to any such kind
of Bird, single in her Species, living, and dying, and reviving in that
Manner: But ’tis an Apologue, or a Fable with an Interpretation, and was
intended as an _Emblem_ of the World; which, after a long Age, will be
consum’d in the last Fire: And from its Ashes or Remains, will arise
another World, or a new-form’d Heavens and Earth. This, I think, is the
true Mystery of the _Phœnix_, under which Symbol the Eastern Nations
preserv’d the Doctrine of the Conflagration, and Renovation of the
World. They tell somewhat a like Story of the Eagle, soaring aloft so
near the Sun, that by his Warmth and enlivening Rays, she renews her
Age, and becomes young again. To this the _Psalmist_ is thought to
allude, Psal. ciii. 5. _Thy Youth shall be renewed like the Eagles_:
Which the _Chaldee_ Paraphrast renders, _In mundo venturo renovabis,
sicut Aquilæ, juventutem tuam_. These Things to me seem plainly to be
Symbolical, representing that World to come, which the Paraphrast
mentions, and the firing of this. And this is after the Manner of the
Eastern Wisdom; which always lov’d to go fine, cloath’d in Figures and
Fancies.

And not only the Eastern _Barbarians_, but the Northern and Western
also, had this Doctrine of the Conflagration amongst them. The
_Scythians_, in their Dispute with the _Ægyptians_ about Antiquity,
argue upon both Suppositions, of Fire or Water, destroying the last
World, or beginning This. And in the West, the _Celts_, the most ancient
People there, had the same Tradition; for the _Druids_, who were their
Priests and Philosophers, derived not from the _Greeks_, but of the old
Race of Wise Men, that had their Learning traditionally, and, as it
were, hereditary from the first Ages: These, as _Strabo_ tells us, _lib.
4._ gave the World a kind of Immortality, by repeated Renovations; and
the Principle that destroy’d it, according to them, was always Fire or
Water. I had forgot to mention in this List, the _Chaldeans_, whose
Opinion we have from _Berosus_, in _Seneca_, _Nat. Quæst. 3._ _c. 29_.
They did not only teach the Conflagration, but also fix’d it to a
certain Period of Time, when there should happen a great Conjunction of
the Planets in _Cancer_. Lastly, we may add, to close the Account, the
modern _Indian_ Philosophers, the Reliques of the old _Bragmans_: These,
as _Maffeus_ tells us, _lib._ 16. _Hist. Ind._ declare, That the World
will be renewed after an universal Conflagration.

You see of what Extent and Universality throughout all Nations, this
Doctrine of the Conflagration hath been. Let us now consider, what
Defects or Excesses there are, in these ancient Opinions, concerning
this Fate of the World, and how they may be rectified: That we may admit
them no further into our Belief, than they are warranted by Reason, or
by the Authority of the Christian Religion. The first Fault they seem to
have committed about this Point, is this, That they made these
Revolutions and Renovations of Nature, indefinite or endless: As if
there would be such a Succession of Deluges and Conflagrations to all
Eternity. This the _Stoicks_ seem plainly to have asserted, as appears
from _Numenius_, _Philo_, _Simplicius_, and others. S. _Jerome_, _Ep.
60._ imputes this Opinion also to _Origen_; but he does not always hit
the true Sense of that Father, or is not fair and just in the
Representation of it. Whosoever held this Opinion, ’tis a manifest
Error, and may be easily rectified by the Christian Revelation; which
teaches us plainly, that there is a final Period and Consummation of all
Things that belong to this Sublunary or Terrestrial World; When the
_Kingdom shall be delivered up to the Father_; and Time shall be no
more.

Another Error they committed in this Doctrine, is, the Identity, or
Sameness, if I may so say, of the World’s succeeding one another. They
are made, indeed, of the same Lump of Matter, but they supposed them to
return also in the same Form. And, which is worse, that there would be
the same Face of human Affairs; the same Persons and the same Actions
over again; so as the second World would be but a bare Repetition of the
former, without any Variety or Diversity. Such a Revolution is commonly
call’d the _Platonick Year_: A Period when all Things return to the same
Posture they had been some Thousand of Years before; as a Play acted
over again, upon the same Stage, and to the same Auditory: This is a
groundless and injudicious Supposition. For, whether we consider the
Nature of Things, the Earth, after a Dissolution by Fire, or by Water,
could not return into the same Form and Fashion it had before; Or
whether we consider Providence, it would no way suit with the Divine
Wisdom and Justice, to bring upon the Stage again, those very Scenes,
and that very Course of human Affairs, which it had so lately condemn’d
and destroy’d. We may be assur’d therefore, that, upon the Dissolution
of a World, a new Order of Things, both as to Nature and Providence,
always appears. And what that new Order will be, in both respects, after
the _Conflagration_, I hope we shall, in the following Book, give a
satisfactory Account.

These are the Opinions, true or false, of the Ancients; and chiefly of
the _Stoicks_, concerning the Mystery of the Conflagration. It will not
be improper to enquire, in the last Place, how the _Stoicks_ came by
this Doctrine: Whether it was their Discovery and Invention, or from
whom they learned it. That it was not their own Invention, we have given
sufficient ground to believe, by shewing the Antiquity of it beyond the
Times of the _Stoicks_. Besides, what a Man invents himself, he can give
the Reasons and Causes of it, as Things upon which he founded his
Invention: But the _Stoicks_ do not this, but, according to the ancient
traditional Way, deliver the Conclusion without Proof or Premises. We
named _Heraclitus_ and _Empedocles_, amongst the _Greeks_, to have
taught this Doctrine before the _Stoicks_; And, according to _Plutarch_
(_de Defec. Orac._) _Hesiod_ and _Orpheus_, Authors of the highest
Antiquity, sung of this last Fire in their Philosophick Poetry. But I
suspect the _Stoicks_ had this Doctrine from the _Phœnicians_; for if we
inquire into the Original of that Sect, we shall find that their Founder
_Zeno_, was a Barbarian, or Semi-barbarian, deriv’d from the
_Phœnicians_, as _Laertius_ and _Cicero_ give an Account of him. And the
_Phœnicians_ had a great Share in the Oriental Knowledge, as we see by
_Sanchoniathion’s_ Remains in _Eusebius_. And by their mystical Books
which _Suidas_ mentions, from whence _Pherecydes_, _Pythagoras_’s
Master, had his Learning. We may therefore, reasonably presume, that it
might be from his Countrymen, the _Phœnicians_, that _Zeno_ had the
Doctrine of the _Conflagration_. Not that he brought it first into
_Greece_, but strongly reviv’d it, and made it almost peculiar to his
Sect.

So much for the _Stoicks_ in particular, and the _Greeks_ in general. We
have also, you see, trac’d these Opinions higher, to the first Barbarick
Philosophers; who were the first Race of Philosophers after the Flood.
But _Josephus_ tells a formal Story, of Pillars set up by _Seth_, before
the Flood; implying the Foreknowledge of this fiery Destruction of the
World, even from the Beginning of it. His Words, _lib. 1. c. 3._ are to
this Effect, give what Credit to them you think fit: _Seth and his
Fellow Students, having found out the Knowledge of the Cœlestial Bodies,
and the Order and Disposition of the Universe; and having also receiv’d
from Adam, a Prophecy, that the World should have a double Destruction,
one by Water, another by Fire: To preserve and transmit their Knowledge,
in either Case, to Posterity, they raised two Pillars, one of Brick,
another of Stone, and ingrav’d upon them their Philosophy and
Inventions. And one of these Pillars_, the Author says (Κατα τον
Συριαδα) _was standing in_ Syria, _even to his Time_. I do not press the
Belief of this Story; there being nothing, that I know of, in Antiquity,
Sacred or Prophane, that gives a joint Testimony with it. And those that
set up these Pillars, do not seem to me, to have understood the Nature
of the _Deluge_ or _Conflagration_; if they thought a Pillar, either of
Brick or Stone, would be secure, in those great Dissolutions of the
Earth. But we have pursued this Doctrine high enough, without the Help
of these ante-diluvian Antiquities: Namely, to the earliest People, and
the first Appearances of Wisdom after the Flood. So that, I think, we
may justly look upon it as the Doctrine of _Noah_, and of his immediate
Posterity. And, as that is the highest Source of Learning to the present
World; so we should endeavour to carry our Philosophical Traditions to
that Original: For I cannot persuade myself, but that they had amongst
them, even in those early Days, the main Strokes, or Conclusions of the
best Philosophy: Or, if I may so say, a Form of sound Doctrine
concerning Nature and Providence. Of which Matter, if you will allow me
a short Digression, I will speak my Thoughts in a few Words.

In those first Ages of the World, after the Flood, when _Noah_ and his
Children peopled the Earth again, as he gave them Precepts of Morality
and Piety, for the Conduct of their Manners; which are usually call’d
_Præcepta Noachidarum_, the _Precepts_ of _Noah_, frequently mention’d
both by the _Jews_ and _Christians_: So also he deliver’d to them, at
least, if we judge aright, certain Maxims, or Conclusions about
Providence, the State of Nature, and the Fate of the World: And these,
in Proportion, may be call’d _Dogmata Noachidarum_, the _Doctrines_ of
_Noah_, and _his Children_. Which made a System of Philosophy, or secret
Knowledge amongst them, delivered by Tradition from Father to Son; but
especially preserv’d amongst their Priests and Sacred Persons, or such
others as were addicted to Contemplation. This I take to be more ancient
than _Moses_ himself, or the _Jewish_ Nation. But it would lead me too
far out of my Way, to set down, in this Place, the Reasons of my
Judgment. Let it be sufficient to have pointed only at this
Fountain-head of Knowledge, and so return to our Argument.

We have heard, as it were, a Cry of Fire, throughout all Antiquity, and
throughout all the People of the Earth. But those Alarums are sometimes
false, or make a greater Noise than the Thing deserves. For my Part, I
never trust Antiquity barely upon its own Account, but always require a
second Witness, either from Nature, or from Scripture: What the Voice of
Nature is, we shall hear all along in the following Treatise. Let us
then examine at present, what Testimony the Prophets and Apostles give
to this ancient Doctrine of the Conflagration of the World. The Prophets
see the World a Fire at a Distance, and more imperfectly, as a
Brightness in the Heavens, rather than a burning Flame: But S. _Peter_
describes it, as if he had been standing by, and seen the Heavens and
Earth in a red Fire; heard the cracking Flames, and the tumbling
Mountains, 2 _Pet._ iii. 10. In the Day of the Lord, _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_. Then, after a pious Ejaculation, he adds, _Ver._ 12. _Looking for,
and hastening the coming of the Day of God, wherein the Heavens being on
Fire, shall be dissolv’d; and the Elements shall melt with fervent
Heat._ This is as lively as a Man could express it, if he had the
dreadful Spectacle before his Eyes. S. _Peter_ had before taught the
same Doctrine (_ver._ 5, 6, 7.) but in a more Philosophick Way;
describing the double Fate of the World, by Water and Fire, with
relation to the Nature and Constitution of either World, past or
present. _The Heavens and the Earth were of old, consisting of Water,
and by 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, or Atheistical Men._ This Testimony
of S. _Peter_ being full, direct, and explicit, will give Light and
Strength to several other Passages of Scripture, where the same Thing is
exprest obscurely, or by Allusion. As when S. _Paul_ says, _The Fire
shall try every Man’s Work in that Day_, 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13. And our
Saviour says, _The Tares shall be burnt in the Fire, at the End of the
World_, Matth. xiii. 40, 41, 42. Accordingly it is said, both by the
Apostles and Prophets, that _God_ will come to Judgment _in Fire_. St.
_Paul_ to the _Thessalonians_, 2 _Thess._ ii. 7, 8. promiseth the
persecuted Righteous Rest and Ease, _When the Lord shall be revealed
from Heaven, with his mighty Angels, in flaming Fire; taking Vengeance
on them that know not God_, &c. And so to the _Hebrews_, St. _Paul_
says, _ch._ x. 27. that for wilful Apostates, there remaineth no more
Sacrifice for Sin, _but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment, and
fiery Indignation, which shall devour the Adversaries_, or Enemies of
God. And in _ch._ xii. _ver._ 26, 27, 28, 29. he alludes to the same
Thing, when, after he had spoken of _shaking the Heavens_, and the
_Earth_ once more, he exhorteth, as St. _Peter_ does upon the same
Occasion, to _Reverence and godly Fear; for our God is a consuming
Fire_.

In like manner the Prophets, when they speak of destroying the Wicked,
and the Enemies of God and Christ, at the End of the World, represent it
as a Destruction _by Fire_. Psal. xi. 6. _Upon the Wicked the Lord shall
rain Coals, Fire, and Brimstone, and a burning Tempest: This shall be
the Portion of their Cup._ And Psal. l. 3. _Our God shall come, and will
not be slow: A Fire shall devour before him_, and it _shall be very
tempestuous round about him_. And in the Beginning of those two
triumphal Psalms, the lxviiith, and xcviith, we see plain Allusions to
this coming of the Lord in Fire. The other Prophets speak in the same
Style, of a fiery Indignation against the Wicked, in the Day of the
Lord: As in _Isaiah_ lxvi. 15. _For behold the Lord will come with Fire,
and with his Chariots like a Whirlwind, to render his Anger with Fury,
and his Rebuke with Flames of Fire_ (and _ch._ xxxiv. 8, 9, 10) And in
_Daniel_, _c._ vii. 9, 10. The Ancient of Days is placed upon his Seat
of Judgment, covered in Flames. _I beheld till the Thrones were set, and
the Ancient of Days did sit, whose Garment was white as Snow, and the
Hair of his Head like the pure Wool: His Throne was like the fiery
Flame, his Wheels as burning Fire. A fiery Stream issued and came forth
from before him: thousand thousands ministred unto him, and ten thousand
times ten thousand stood before him: The Judgment was set, and the Books
were opened._ The Prophet _Malachi_, c. iv. 1. describes the Day of the
Lord to the same Effect, and in like Colours; _Behold the Day cometh,
that shall burn as an Oven: and all the Proud, yea, and all that do
wickedly, shall be as Stubble; and the Day that cometh shall burn them
up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither Root nor
Branch._ And that Nature herself, and the Earth shall suffer in that
Fire, the Prophet _Zephany_ tells us, _c._ iii. 8. _All the Earth shall
be devoured with the Fire of my Jealousy._ Lastly, this Consumption of
the Earth by Fire, even to the Foundations of it, is exprest livelily by
_Moses_ in his Song, _Deut._ xxxii. 22. _A Fire is kindled in my Anger,
and shall burn unto the lowest Hell: and shall consume the Earth with
her Increase, and set on Fire the Foundations of the Mountains._

If we reflect upon these Witnesses; and especially the first and last,
_Moses_ and Saint _Peter_; at what a great Distance of Time they writ
their Prophecies, and yet how well they agree, we must needs conclude
they were acted by the same Spirit; and a Spirit that saw thorough all
the Ages of the World, from the Beginning to the End. These Sacred
Writers were so remote in Time from one another, that they could not
confer together, nor conspire either in a false Testimony, or to make
the same Prediction. But being under one common Influence and
Inspiration, which is always consistent with itself, they have dictated
the same Things, tho’ at two thousand Years Distance sometimes from one
another. This, besides many other Considerations, makes their Authority
incontestable. And upon the whole Account, you see, that the Doctrine of
the future _Conflagration of the World_, having run thro’ all Ages and
Nations, is, by the joint Consent of the Prophets and Apostles, adopted
into the Christian Faith.




                               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 explained._


Having, in this first Section, laid a sure Foundation, as to the Subject
of our Discourse; the Truth and Certainty of the _Conflagration_ whereof
we are to treat; we will now proceed to enquire after the _Time_,
_Causes_, and _Manner_ of it. We are naturally more inquisitive after
the End of the World, and the Time of that fatal Revolution, than after
the Causes of it: For these, we know, are irresistible, whensoever they
come, and therefore we are only solicitous that they should not overtake
us, or our near Posterity. The _Romans_ thought they had the Fates of
their Empire in the Books of the Sibyls, which were kept by the
Magistrates as a Sacred Treasure. We have also our Prophetical Books,
more sacred and more infallible than theirs, which contain the Fate of
all the Kingdoms of the Earth, and of that glorious Kingdom that is to
succeed. And of all Futurities, there is none can be of such Importance
to be enquired after, as this last Scene and Close of all human Affairs.

If I thought it possible to determine the Time of the _Conflagration_
from the bare Intuition of natural Causes, I would not treat of it in
this Place, but reserve it to the last; after we had brought into View
all those Causes, weigh’d their Force, and examin’d how and when they
would concur to produce this great Effect. But I am satisfied, that the
Excitation and Concourse of those Causes does not depend upon Nature
only; and tho’ the Causes may be sufficient, when all united, yet the
Union of them at such a Time, and in such a Manner, I look upon as the
Effect of a particular Providence; and therefore no Fore-sight of ours,
or Inspection into Nature, can discover to us the Time of this
Conjuncture. This Method, therefore, of Prediction from natural Causes
being laid aside as impracticable, all other Methods may be treated of
in this Place, as being independent upon any Thing that is to follow in
the Treatise; and it will be an Ease to the Argument to discharge it of
this Part, and clear the Way by Degrees to the principal Point, which
is, The _Causes_ and _Manner_ of the Conflagration.

Some have thought it a Kind of Impiety in a Christian, to enquire after
the End of the World; because of that Check which our Saviour gave his
Disciples, when, after his Resurrection, enquiring of him about the Time
of his Kingdom, he answer’d, _It is not for you to know the Times or the
Seasons, which the Father hath put in his own Power, Acts i. 7._ And
before his Death, when he was discoursing of the Consummation of all
Things, He told them expresly, that though there should be such and such
previous Signs as he had mention’d, yet, _Of that Day and Hour knoweth
no Man; no, not the Angels that are in Heaven, but my Father only, Matt.
xxiv. 36._ Be it so, that the Disciples deserv’d a Reprimand, for
desiring to know, by a particular Revelation from our Saviour, the State
of future Times; when many other Things were more necessary for their
Instruction, and for their Ministry. Be it also admitted, that the
Angels, at that Distance of Time, could not see thorow all Events to the
End of the World; it does not at all follow from thence, that they do
not know it now; when, in the Course of 1600 Years, many Things are come
to pass, that may be Marks and Directions to them to make a Judgment of
what remains, and of the last Period of all Things. However, there will
be no Danger in our Enquiries about this Matter, seeing they are not so
much to discover the Certainty, as the Uncertainty of that Period, as to
human Knowledge. Let us therefore consider what Methods have been used,
by those that have been curious and busy to measure the Duration of the
World.

The _Stoicks_ tell us, _When_ the Sun and the Stars have drunk up the
Sea, then the Earth shall be burnt. A very fair Prophecy! But, how long
will they be a drinking? For unless we can determine that, we cannot
determine when this Combustion will begin. Many of the Antients thought
that the Stars were nourish’d by the Vapours of the Ocean and of the
moist Earth, (_Cicer. de Nat. D. lib. 2._) and when that Nourishment was
spent, being of a fiery Nature, they would prey upon the Body of the
Earth it self, and consume that, after they had consum’d the Water. This
is old-fashion’d Philosophy, and now, that the Nature of those Bodies is
better known, will scarce pass for current. ’Tis true, we must expect
some Dispositions towards the Combustion of the World, from a great
Drought and Desiccation of the Earth: But this helps us nothing on our
Way; for the Question still returns, _When_ will this immoderate Drought
or Dryness happen? and that’s as ill to resolve as the former.
Therefore, as I said before, I have no Hopes of deciding the Question by
Physiology or Natural Causes; let us then look up from the Earth to the
Heavens, to the Astronomers and the Prophets: These think they can
define the Age and Duration of the World; the one by their Art, and the
other by Inspiration.

We begin with the Astronomers; whose Calculations are founded either
upon the Aspects and Configurations of the Planets, or upon the
Revolutions of the fixed Stars: or, lastly, upon that which they call
_Annus Magnus_, or the _Great Year_, whatsoever that Notion proves to be
when it is rightly interpreted. As to the Planets, _Berosus_ tells us,
the _Chaldeans_ suppose Deluges to proceed from a great Conjunction of
the Planets in _Capricorn_, (_Sen. Nat. qu. l. 3. c. 29._) And from a
like Conjunction in the opposite Sign of _Cancer_, the Conflagration
will ensue. So that if we compute by the Astronomical Tables how long it
will be to such a Conjunction, we find at the same Time how long it will
be to the _Conflagration_. This Doctrine of the _Chaldeans_ some
Christian Authors have owned, and followed the same Principles and
Method.

If these Authors would deal fairly with Mankind, they should shew us
some Connexion betwixt these Causes and the Effects which they make
consequent upon them. For ’tis an unreasonable Thing to require a Man’s
Assent to a Proposition, where he sees no Dependance or Connexion of
Terms; unless it come by Revelation, or from an infallible Authority. If
you say, the Conflagration will be at the first great Conjunction of the
Planets in _Cancer_, and I say it will be at the next Eclipse of the
Moon, if you shew no more Reason for your Assertion than I for mine, and
neither of us pretend to Revelation or Infallibility, we may justly
expect to be equally credited. Pray what Reason can you give why the
Planets, when they meet, should plot together to set on Fire their
Fellow-Planet, the Earth, who never did them any Harm? But now there is
a plausible Reason for my Opinion; for the Moon, when eclips’d, may
think herself affronted by the Earth interposing rudely betwixt her and
the Sun, and leaving her to grope her Way in the Dark: She therefore may
justly take her Revenge as she can. But you’ll say, ’tis not in the
Power of the Moon to set the Earth on Fire, if she had Malice enough to
do it. No, nor say I, is it in the Power of the other Planets that are
far more distant from the Earth than the Moon, and as stark dull Lumps
of Earth as she is. The plain Truth is, the Planets are so many Earths;
and our Earth is as much a Planet as the brightest of them. ’Tis carried
about the Sun with the same common Stream, and shines with as much
Lustre to them, as they do to us: Neither can they do any more Harm to
it, than it can do to them. ’Tis now well known, that the Planets are
dark opake Bodies, generally made up of Earth and Water, as our Globe
is; and have no Force or Action, but that of reverberating the Light
which the Sun casts upon them. This blind superstitious Fear or
Reverence for the Stars, had its Original from the antient Idolaters:
They thought them Gods, and that they had Domination over human Affairs.
We do not indeed worship them, as they did; but some Men retain still
the same Opinion of their Vertues, of their Rule and Influence upon us
and our Affairs, which was the Ground of their Worship. ’Tis full Time
now to sweep away these Cobwebs of Superstition, these Relicks of
Paganism. I do not see how we are any more concern’d in the Postures of
the Planets, than in the Postures of the Clouds; and you may as well
build an Art of Prediction and Divination, upon the one, as the other.
They must not know much of the Philosophy of the Heavens, or little
consider it, that think the Fate, either of single Persons, or of the
whole Earth, can depend upon the Aspects, or figur’d Dances of those
Bodies.

But you’ll say, it may be, Tho’ no Reason can be given for such Effects,
yet Experience does attest the Truth of them. In the first Place, I
answer, no Experience can be produced for this Effect we are speaking
of, the Conflagration of the World. Secondly, Experience fallaciously
recorded, or wholly in favour of one side, is no Proof. If a publick
Register was kept of all Astrological Predictions, and of all the Events
that followed upon them, right or wrong, agreeing or disagreeing, I
could willingly refer the Cause to the Determination of such a Register,
and such Experience: But that which they call Experience, is so stated,
that if one Prediction of ten hits right, or near right, it shall make
more Noise, and be more taken Notice of, than all the Nine that are
false. Just as in a Lottery, where many Blanks are drawn for one Prize,
yet these make all the Noise, and those are forgotten. If any one be so
lucky as to draw a good Lot, then the Trumpet sounds, and his Name is
register’d, and he tells his good Fortune to every Body he meets;
whereas those that lose, go silently away with empty Pockets, and are
asham’d to tell their Losses. Such a Thing is the Register of
Astrological Experiences; they record what makes for their Credit, but
drop all blank Instances, that would discover the Vanity or Cheat of
their Art.

So much for the Planets. They have also a pretended Calculation of the
End of the World, from the fix’d Stars and the Firmament. Which, in
short, is this: They suppose these Bodies, besides the Hurry of their
Diurnal Motion from East to West, quite round the Earth in 24 Hours, to
have another retrograde Motion from West to East, which is more slow and
leisurely: And when they have finished the Circle of this
Retrogradation, and come up again to the same Place from whence they
started at the Beginning of the World, then this Course of Nature will
be at an End; and either the Heavens will cease from all Motion, or a
new Set of Motions will be put a-foot, and the World begin again. This
is a Bundle of Fictions tied up in a pretty Knot. In the first Place,
there is no such Thing as a solid Firmament, in which the Stars are
fix’d, as Nails in a Board. The Heavens are as fluid as our Air, and the
higher we go, the more thin and subtle is the ethereal Matter. Then, the
fix’d Stars are not all in one Surface, as they seem to us, not at an
equal Distance from the Earth, but are placed in several Orbs higher and
higher; there being infinite Room in the great Deep of the Heavens,
every Way, for innumerable Stars and Spheres behind one another, to fill
and beautify the immense Spaces of the Universe. Lastly, the fix’d Stars
have no Motion common to them all, nor any Motion singly, unless upon
their own Centres; and therefore, never leaving their Stations, they can
never return to any common Station, which they would suppose them to
have had at the Beginning of the World. So as this Period they speak of,
whereby they would measure the Duration of the World, is merely
imaginary, and hath no Foundation in the true Nature or Motion of the
cœlestial Bodies.

But in the third Place, they speak of an ANNUS MAGNUS, a _Great Year_: A
Revolution so call’d, whatsoever it is, that is of the same Extent with
the Length of the World. This Notion, I confess, is more antient and
universal, and therefore I am the more apt to believe that it is not
altogether groundless. But the Difficulty is, to find out the Notion of
this _Great Year_, what is to be understood by it, and then of what
Length it is. They all agree that it is a Time of some grand
Instauration of all Things, or a Restitution of the Heavens and the
Earth to their former State; that is, to the State and Posture they had
at the Beginning of the World; such therefore as will restore the Golden
Age, and that happy State of Nature wherein Things were at first. If so,
if these be the Marks and Properties of this Revolution, which is called
the _Great Year_, we need not go so far to find the true Notion and
Interpretation of it. Those that have read the _first Part_ of this
_Theory_, may remember, that in the _2d Book, Chap. 3._ we gave an
Account what the Posture of the Earth was at the Beginning of the World,
and what were the Consequences of that Posture, _a perpetual Spring_ and
Equinox throughout all the Earth: And if the Earth was restor’d again to
that Posture and Situation, all that is imputed to the _Great Year_,
would immediately follow upon it, without ever disturbing or moving the
fix’d Stars, Firmament, or Planets; and yet at the same Time all these
three would return, or be restored to the same Posture they had at the
Beginning of the World; so as the whole Character of the _Great Year_
would be truly fulfill’d, tho’ not in that Way which they imagin’d; but
in another, more compendious, and of easier Conception. My Meaning is
this, If the Axis of the Earth was rectified and set parallel with the
Axis of the Ecliptick, upon which the Planets, Firmament, and fix’d
Stars are suppos’d to move, all Things would be as they were at first; a
general Harmony and Conformity of all the Motions of the Universe would
presently appear, such as they say, was in the Golden Age, before any
Disorder came into the Natural or Moral World.

As this is an easy, so I do not doubt, but it is a true Account of that
which was originally call’d the _Great Year_, or the Great Instauration;
which Nature will bring to pass in this simple Method, by rectifying the
Axis of the Earth, without those operose Revolutions, which some
Astronomers have fancied. But however, this Account being admitted, how
will it help us to define what the Age and Duration of the World will
be? ’Tis true, many have undertaken to tell us the Length of this _Great
Year_, and consequently of the World; but, besides that their Accounts
are very different, and generally of an extravagant Length, if we had
the true Account, it would not assure us when the World would end;
because we do not know when it did begin, or what Progress we have
already made in the Line of Time. For I am satisfied, the Chronology of
the World, whether Sacred or Profane, is lost; till Providence shall
please to retrieve it by some new Discovery. As to profane Chronology,
or that of the _Heathens_, the _Greeks_, and the _Romans_ knew nothing
above the _Olympiads_; which fell short many Ages of the Deluge, much
more of the Beginning of the World. And the Eastern barbarous Nations,
as they disagreed amongst themselves, so generally they run the Origin
of the World to such a prodigious Height, as is neither agreeable to
Faith, nor Reason. As to sacred Chronology, ’tis well known, that the
Difference there is betwixt the _Greek_, _Hebrew_, and _Samaritan_
Copies of the Bible, make the Age of the World altogether undetermin’d:
And there is no Way yet found out, how we may certainly discover which
of the three Copies is most Authentick; and consequently, what the Age
of the World is, upon a true Computation. Seeing therefore we have no
Assurance how long the World hath stood already, neither could we be
assur’d how long it hath to stand, tho’ by this _Annus Magnus_, or any
other Way, the total Sum, or whole Term of its Duration was truly known;
I am sorry to see the little Success we have had in our first Search
after the End of the World, from Astronomical Calculations. But ’tis an
useful Piece of Knowledge to know the Bounds of our Knowledge; that so
we may not spend our Time and Thoughts about Things that lie out of our
Reach. I have little or no Hopes of resolving this Point by the Light of
Nature, and therefore it only remains now to enquire, whether Providence
hath made it known by any Sort of Prophecy or Revelation. Which shall be
the Subject of the following Chapter.




                                CHAP. V.


    _Concerning Prophecies that determine the End of the World: Of what
    Order soever, Profane or Sacred; Jewish or Christian. That no
    certain Judgment can be made from any of them, at what Distance we
    are now from the Conflagration._


The Bounds of human Knowledge are so narrow, and the Desire of knowing
so vast and illimited, that it often puts Mankind upon irregular Methods
of inlarging their Knowledge. This hath made them find out Arts of
Commerce with evil Spirits, to be instructed by them in such Events as
they could not of themselves discover. We meddle not with those
Mysteries of Iniquity: But what hath appear’d under the Notion of divine
Prophecy, relating to the Chronology of the World: Giving either the
whole Extent of it, or certain Marks of its Expiration; These we purpose
to examine in this Place: How far any Thing may, or may not, be
concluded from them, as to the Resolution of our Problem, _How long the
World will last_.

Amongst the Heathens, I do not remember any Prophecies of this Nature,
except the _Sibylline Oracles_, as they are usually called. The antient
Eastern Philosophers have left us no Account that I can call to mind,
about the Time of this Fatality. They say, when the _Phœnix_ returns, we
must expect the Conflagration to follow; but the Age of the _Phœnix_
they make as various and uncertain, as they do the Computation of their
_Great Year_, _Symbolum_ ἀποξαταστάσεως πολυχρονίου, _Phœnix. Hor. Apol.
l. 2. c. 57._ which two Things are indeed, one and the same in Effect.
Some of them, I confess, mention 6000 Years for the whole Age of the
World: Which being the famous Prophecy of the _Jews_, we shall speak to
it largely hereafter; and reduce to that Head, what broken Traditions
remain amongst the Heathens of the same thing. As to the _Sibylline
Oracles_, which were so much in Reputation amongst the _Greeks_ and
_Romans_, they have been tamper’d with so much, and chang’d so often,
that they are become now of little Authority. They seem to have divided
the Duration of the World into ten Ages, and the last of these they make
a Golden Age, a State of Peace, Righteousness, and Perfection: But
seeing they have not determin’d, in any definite Numbers, what the
Length of every Age will be, nor given us the Sum of all, we cannot draw
any Conclusion from this Account, as to the Point in question before us:
But must proceed to the _Jewish_ and _Christian_ Oracles.

The _Jews_ have a remarkable Prophecy, which expresseth both the Whole,
and the Parts of the World’s Duration. The World, they say, will stand
Six thousand Years: _Two thousand before the Law, Two thousand under the
Law, and Two thousand under the Messiah_. This Prophecy they derive from
_Elias_; but there were two of the Name, _Elias_ the _Thesbite_, and
_Elias_ the _Rabbin_, or _Cabbalist_; and ’tis suppos’d to belong
immediately to the latter of these. Yet this does not hinder, in my
Opinion, but that it might come originally from the former _Elias_, and
was preserv’d in the School of this _Elias_ the _Rabbin_, and first made
publick by him. Or he added, it may be, that Division of the Time into
three Parts, and so got a Title to the whole. I cannot easily imagine,
that a Doctor that lived Two hundred Years, or thereabouts, before
Christ, when Prophecy had ceas’d for some Ages amongst the _Jews_,
should take upon him to dictate a Prophecy about the Duration of the
World, unless he had been supported by some antecedent Cabbalistical
Tradition: Which being kept more secret before, he took the Liberty to
make Publick, and so was reputed the Author of the Prophecy: As many
Philosophers amongst the _Greeks_, were the reputed Authors of such
Doctrines as were much more antient than themselves: But they were the
Publishers of them in their Country, or the Revivers of them after a
long Silence; and so, by forgetful Posterity, got the Honour of the
first Invention.

You will think, it may be, the Time is too long, and the Distance too
great, betwixt _Elias_ the _Thesbite_, and this _Elias_ the _Rabbin_,
for a Tradition to subsist all the while, or be preserv’d with any
competent Integrity. But it appears from St. _Jude_’s Epistle, that the
_Prophecies of Enoch_, (who liv’d before the Flood) relating to the Day
of Judgment and the End of the World, were extant in his Time, either in
Writing or by Tradition: And the Distance between _Enoch_ and St. _Jude_
was vastly greater than betwixt the two _Elias_’s. Nor was any fitter to
be inspir’d with that Knowledge, or to tell the first News of that fatal
Period, than the old Prophet _Elias_, who is to come again and bring the
Alarum of the approaching Conflagration. But however this Conjecture may
prove as to the original Author of this Prophecy, the Prophecy itself
concerning the _Sexmillennial_ Duration of the World, is very much
insisted upon by the Christian Fathers. Which yet I believe is not so
much for the bare Authority of the Tradition, as because they thought it
was founded in the History of the _six Days Creation_, and the _Sabbath_
succeeding: As also in some other typical Precepts and Usages in the Law
of _Moses_. But before we speak of that, give me Leave to name some of
those Fathers to you, that were of this Judgment, and supposed the great
Sabbatism would succeed after the World had stood Six thousand Years. Of
this Opinion was St. _Barnabas_ in his Catholick Epistle, _ch._ xv.
Where he argues, that the Creation will be ended in Six thousand Years,
as it was finish’d in six Days: Every Day according to the sacred and
mystical Account, being a Thousand Years. Of the same Judgment is St.
_Irenæus_, both as to the Conclusion, and the Reason of it, _l. 5. c.
28, 29, 30_. He saith, the History of the Creation in six Days, _is a
Narration as to what it past, and a Prophecy of what is to come_. As the
Work was said to be consummated in 6 Days, and the Sabbath to be the
Seventh: So the Consummation of all Things will be in 6000 Years, and
then the great Sabbatism to come on in the blessed Reign of Christ.
_Hippolytus_ Martyr, Disciple of _Irenæus_, is of the same Judgment, as
you may see in _Photius_, _c. 202._ _Lactantius_ in his _Divine
Institutions_, _l. 7. c. 14._ gives the very same Account of the State
and Condition of the World, and the same Proofs for it, and so does St.
_Cyprian_, in his _Exhortation to Martyrdom, c. 18_. St. _Jerome_ more
than once declares himself of the same Opinion; and St. _Austin_, _C. D.
l. 20. c. 7._ tho’ he wavers, and was doubtful as to the _Millennium_,
or Reign of Christ upon Earth, yet he receives this Computation without
Hesitancy, and upon the foremention’d Grounds. So _Johannes Damascenus
de Fide Orthodoxâ_, takes seven Millennaries for the intire Space of the
World, from the Creation, to the general Resurrection, the Sabbatism
being included. And that this was a receiv’d and approv’d Opinion in
early Times, we may collect from the Author of the _Questions and
Answers, ad Orthodoxos_, in _Justin Martyr_. Who, giving an Answer to
that Enquiry about the six thousand Years Term of the World, says, _We
may conjecture from many Places of Scripture, that those are in the
right, that say, six thousand Years is the Time prefix’d, for the
Duration of this present Frame of the World_. These Authors I have
examin’d my self: But there are many others brought in Confirmation of
this Opinion: As St. _Hilary_, _Anastasius Sinaita_, Sanctus
_Gaudentius_, _Q. Julius Hilarion_, _Junilius Africanus_, _Isidorus
Hispalensis_, _Cassiodorus_, _Gregorius Magnus_, and others, which I
leave to be examin’d by those that have Curiosity and Leisure to do it.

In the mean time, it must be confess’d, that many of these Fathers were
under a Mistake, in one respect, in that they generally thought the
World was near an End in their Time. An Error, which we need not take
Pains to confute now; seeing we, who live twelve hundred or fourteen
hundred Years after them, find the World still in being, and likely to
continue so for some considerable Time. But it is easy to discern whence
their Mistake proceeded: Not from this Prophecy alone, but because they
reckon’d this Prophecy according to the Chronology of the _Septuagint_:
Which setting back the Beginning of the World many Ages beyond the
_Hebrew_, these six thousand Years were very near expir’d in the Time of
those Fathers; and that made them conclude, that the World was very near
an End. We will make no Reflections, in this Place, upon that Chronology
of the _Septuagint_, lest it should too much interrupt the Thread of our
Discourse. But it is necessary to shew how the Fathers grounded this
Computation of six thousand Years, upon Scripture. ’Twas chiefly, as we
suggested before, upon the _Hexameron_, or the Creation finish’d in _six
Days_, and the _Sabbath_ ensuing. The Sabbath, they said, was a Type of
the Sabbatism, that was to follow at the End of the World, according to
St. _Paul_, _ch. v._ to the _Hebrews_; and then by Analogy and
Consequence, the six Days preceding the Sabbath, must note the Space and
Duration of the World. If therefore they could discover how much a Day
is reckon’d for, in this mystical Computation, the Sum of the six Days
would be easily found out. And they think, that, according to the
Psalmist (_Psal. xc. 4._) and St. _Peter_, (_2 Epist. iii. 8._) _a Day_
may be estimated _a thousand Years_, and consequently six Days must be
counted six thousand Years, for the Duration of the World. This is their
Interpretation, and their Inference: But it must be acknowledged, that
there is an essential Weakness in all typical and allegorical
Argumentations, in comparison of literal. And this being allow’d in
Diminution of the Proof, we may be bold to say, that nothing yet
appears, either in Nature, or Scripture, or human Affairs, repugnant to
this Supposition of six thousand Years: Which hath Antiquity and the
Authority of the Fathers, on its Side.

We proceed now to the Christian Prophecies concerning the End of the
World. I do not mention those in _Daniel_, because I am not satisfied
that any there (excepting that of the fifth Kingdom itself) extend so
far. But in the _Apocalypse_ of St. _John_, which is the last Revelation
we are to expect, there are several Prophecies that reach to the
Consummation of this World, and the first Resurrection. The _seven
Seals_, the _seven Trumpets_, the _seven Vials_, do all terminate upon
that great Period. But they are rather Historical Prophecies than
Chronological; they tell us, in their Language, the Events, but do not
measure or express the Time wherein they come to pass. Others there are
that may be call’d Chronological, as the _treading under Foot the Holy
City, Forty and two months, Apoc. xi. 2._ The _Witnesses_ opposing
Antichrist _One thousand Two hundred and sixty Days, Apoc. xi. 3._ The
Flight of the _Woman into the Wilderness_, for the same Number of Days,
or for a _Time, Times, and half a Time, Apoc. xii. 6 & 14._ And lastly,
The War of the Beasts against the Saints, _Forty-two Months, Apoc. xiii.
5._ These all, you see, express a Time for their Completion; and all the
same Time, if I be not mistaken: But they do not reach to the End of the
World. Or if some of them did reach so far, yet because we do not
certainly know where to fix their Beginning, we must still be at a Loss,
when, or in what Year they will expire. As for Instance, if the Reign of
the Beast, or the Preaching of the Witnesses be 1260 Years, as is
reasonably suppos’d; yet if we do not know certainly when this Reign, or
this Preaching begun, neither can we tell when it will end. And the
_Epocha_’s, or Beginnings of these Prophecies are so differently
calculated, and are Things of so long Debate, as to make the Discussion
of them altogether improper for this Place. Yet it must be confest, that
the best Conjectures that can be made concerning the approaching End of
the World, must be taken from a judicious Examination of these Points:
And accordingly as we gather up the Prophecies of the _Apocalypse_, in a
successive Completion, we see how by degrees we draw nearer and nearer
to the Conclusion of all. But till some of these enlightening Prophecies
be accomplish’d, we are as a Man that awakes in the Night, all is dark
about him, and he knows not how far the Night is spent; but if he watch
till the Light appears, the first Glimpses of that will resolve his
Doubts. We must have a little Patience, and, I think, but a little;
still eyeing those Prophecies of the _Resurrection_ of the _Witnesses_,
and the _Depression_ of _Antichrist_: ’Till by their Accomplishment, the
Day dawn, and the Clouds begin to change their Colour. Then we shall be
able to make a near Guess, when the Sun of Righteousness will arise.

So much for Prophecies. There are also _Signs_, which are look’d upon as
Forerunners of the Coming of our Saviour; and, therefore, may give us
some Direction how to judge of the Distance or Approach of that great
Day. Thus many of the Fathers thought the _coming of Antichrist_ would
be a Sign to give the World Notice of its approaching End. But we may
easily see, by what hath been noted before, what it was that led the
Fathers into that Mistake. They thought their six thousand Years were
near an End, as they truly were, according to that Chronology they
followed: and therefore they concluded the Reign of Antichrist must be
very short, whensoever he came, and that he could not come long before
the End of the World. But we are very well assur’d, from the Revelation
of Saint _John_, that the Reign of Antichrist is not to be so short and
transient; and from the Prospect and History of _Christendom_, that he
hath been already upon his Throne many hundreds of Years. Therefore this
Sign wholly falls to the Ground; unless you will take it from the Fall
of Antichrist, rather than from his first Entrance. Others expect the
_coming_ of _Elias_, to give Warning of that Day, and prepare the Way of
the Lord. I am very willing to admit that _Elias_ will come, according
to the Sense of the Prophet _Malachi_, _Chap. iv. 5, 6._ but he will not
come _with Observation_, no more than he did in the Person of _John_ the
Baptist; He will not bear the Name of _Elias_, nor tell us he is the Man
that went to Heaven in a fiery Chariot, and is now come down again to
give us Warning of the last Fire. But some divine Person may appear
before the second coming of our Saviour, as there did before his first
coming, and by giving a new Light and Life to the Christian Doctrine,
may dissipate the Mists of Error, and abolish all those little
Controversies amongst good Men, and the Divisions and Animosities that
spring from them: Enlarging their Spirits by greater Discoveries, and
uniting them all in the Bonds of Love and Charity, and in the common
Study of Truth and Perfection. Such an _Elias_ the Prophet seems to
point at; and may he come, and be the great Peace-maker and Preparer of
the Ways of the Lord! But at present, we cannot from this Sign make any
Judgment when the World will end.

Another Sign preceding the End of the World, is, _The Conversion of the
Jews_; and this is a wonderful Sign indeed. St. _Paul_ seems expresly to
affirm it, _Rom. xi. 25, 26._ But it is differently understood, either
of their Conversion only, or of their Restoration to their own Country,
Liberties and Dominion. The Prophets bear hard upon this Sense
sometimes, as you may see in _Isaiah_, _Ezekiel_, _Hosea_, _Amos_. And
to the same purpose the antient Promise of _Moses_ is interpreted,
_Deut. xxx._ Yet this seems to be a thing very unconceivable: Unless we
suppose the ten Tribes to be still in some hidden Corner of the World,
from whence they may be conducted again to their own Country, as once
out of _Ægypt_, by a miraculous Providence, and establish’d there:
Which, being known, will give the Alarm to all the other _Jews_, in the
World, and make an universal Confluence to their old Home. Then our
Saviour, by an extraordinary Appearance to them, as once to St. _Paul_,
_John xix. 37._ and by Prophets, _Apoc. i. 7._ _Mat. xxiii. 39._ rais’d
up amongst them for that purpose, may convince them that he is the true
_Messiah_, and convert them to the Christian Faith; which will be no
more strange, than was the first Conversion of the _Gentile_ World. But
if we be content with a Conversion of the _Jews_, without their
Restoration; and of those two Tribes only, which are now dispersed
throughout the Christian World, and other known Parts of the Earth: That
these should be converted to the Christian Faith, and incorporated into
the Christian Commonwealth, losing their National Character and
Distinction: If this, I say, will satisfy the Prophecies, it is not a
Thing very difficult to be conceived. For when the World is reduc’d to a
better and purer State of Christianity, and that Idolatry, in a great
measure remov’d, which gave the greatest Scandal to the _Jews_, they
will begin to have better Thoughts of our Religion, and be dispos’d to a
more ingenuous and unprejudic’d Examination of their Prophecies
concerning the _Messiah_: God raising up Men amongst them of divine and
enlarged Spirits, Lovers of Truth more than of any particular Sect or
Opinion; with Light to discern it, and Courage to profess it. Lastly, It
will be a cogent Argument upon them, to see the Age of the World so far
spent, and no Appearance yet, of their long expected _Messiah_. So far
spent, I say, that there is no Room left, upon any Computation
whatsoever, for the Oeconomy of a _Messiah_ yet to come. This will make
them reflect more carefully and impartially upon him whom the Christians
propose, _Jesus of Nazareth_, whom their Fathers Crucified at
_Jerusalem_: Upon the Miracles he wrought in his Life, and after his
Death; and upon the wonderful Propagation of his Doctrine throughout the
World, after his Ascension. And lastly, upon the Desolation of
_Jerusalem_, upon their own scattered and forlorn Condition, foretold by
that Prophet, as a Judgment of God upon an ungrateful and wicked People.

This I have said to state the Case of the Conversion of the _Jews_,
which will be a Sign of the approaching Reign of Christ. But, alas! what
Appearance is there of this Conversion in our Days? or what Judgment can
we make from a Sign that is not come to pass? ’Tis ineffectual as to us,
but may be of Use to Posterity. Yet even to them it will not determine,
at what Distance they are from the End of the World, but be a Mark only
that they are not far from it. There will be Signs also, in those last
Days, in the Heavens, and in the Earth, and in the Sea, Forerunners of
the _Conflagration_; as the Obscuration of the Sun and Moon,
Earthquakes, Roarings of the troubled Sea, and such like Disorders in
the natural World, ’tis true; but these are the very Pangs of Death, and
the Strugglings of Nature just before her Dissolution, and it will be
too late then to be aware of our Ruin when it is at the Door. Yet these
being Signs or Prodigies taken Notice of by Scripture, we intend, God
willing, after we have explained the Causes and Manner of the
_Conflagration_, to give an Account also whence these unnatural
Commotions will proceed, that are the Beginnings or immediate
Introductions to the last Fire.

Thus we have gone through the Prophecies and Signs that concern the last
Day and the last Fate of the World. And how little have we learned from
them as to the Time of that great Revolution? Prophecies rise sometimes
with an even gradual Light, as the Day riseth upon the Horizon: and
sometimes break out suddenly like a Fire, and we are not aware of their
Approach ’till we see them accomplish’d. Those that concern the End of
the World, are of this latter Sort, to unobserving Men; but even to the
most observing, there will still be a Latitude; we must not expect to
calculate the coming of our Saviour, like an Eclipse, to Minutes and
half Minutes. There are _Times and Seasons which the Father hath put in
his own Power_. If it was design’d to keep these Things secret, we must
not think to out-wit Providence, and from the Prophecies that are given
us, pick out a Discovery that was not intended we should ever make. It
is determin’d in the Councils of Heaven just how far we shall know these
Events beforehand, and with what Degree of Certainty: And with this we
must be content, whatsoever it is. The _Apocalypse_ of St. _John_ is the
last Prophetical Declaration of the Will of God, and contains the Fate
of the Christian Religion to the End of the World, its Purity,
Degeneracy, and Reviviscency. The Head of this Degeneracy is call’d _The
Beast, the false Prophet, the Whore of Babylon_, in Prophetical Terms:
And in an Ecclesiastical Term is commonly call’d _Antichrist_. Those
that bear Testimony against this Degeneracy, are call’d the _Witnesses_:
Who, after they have been a long Time in a mean and persecuted
Condition, are to have their Resurrection and Ascension; that is, be
advanc’d to Power and Authority. And this Resurrection of the
_Witnesses_, and Depression of _Antichrist_, is that which will make the
great Turn of the World to Righteousness, and the great Crisis, whereby
we may judge of its drawing to an End. ’Tis true, there are other Marks,
as the passing away of the _second Woe_, _Apoc. c. ix._ which is
commonly thought to be the _Ottoman_ Empire; and the Effusion of the
_Vials_, _Apoc. c. xvi._ The first of these will be indeed a very
conspicuous Mark, if it follow upon the Resurrection of the Witnesses,
as by the Prophecy it seems to do, _ch. xi. 14._ But as to the Vials,
tho’ they do plainly reach in a Series to the End of the World, I am not
satisfied with any Exposition I have yet met with, concerning their
precise Time or Contents.

In a Word, though the Sum and general Contents of a Prophecy be very
intelligible, yet the Application of it to Time and Persons may be very
lubricous. There must be Obscurity in a Prophecy, as well as Shadow in a
Picture. All its Lines must not stand in a full Light. For if Prophecies
were open and barefac’d as to all their Parts and Circumstances, they
would check and obstruct the Course of human Affairs; and hinder, if it
was possible, their own Accomplishment. Modesty and Sobriety are in all
Things commendable, but in nothing more than in the Explication of these
sacred Mysteries; and we have seen so many miscarry by a too close and
particular Application of them, that we ought to dread the Rock about
which we see so many Shipwrecks. He that does not err above a Century,
in calculating the last Period of Time, from what Evidence we have at
present, hath, in my Opinion, cast up his Accounts very well. But the
Scenes will change fast towards the Evening of this long Day, and when
the Sun is near setting, they will more easily compute how far he hath
to run.




                               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._


We have now made our Way clear to the principal Point, _The Causes of
the Conflagration_: How the Heavens and the Earth will be set on Fire,
what Materials are prepared, or what Train of Causes, for that purpose.
The Antients, who have kept us Company pretty well thus far, here quite
desert us: they deal more in Conclusions than Causes, as is usual in all
Traditional Learning. And the _Stoicks_ themselves, who inculcate so
much the Doctrine of the Conflagration, and make the Strength of it
such, as to dissolve the Earth into a fiery Chaos, are yet very short
and superficial in their Explications, how this shall come to pass. The
latent Seeds of Fire, they say, shall every where be let loose, and that
Element will prevail over all the rest, and transform every Thing into
its own Nature. But these are general Things, that give little
Satisfaction to inquisitive Persons. Neither do the modern Authors, that
treat of the same Subject, relieve us in this Particular: They are
willing to suppose the Conflagration a superficial Effect, that so they
may excuse themselves the Trouble of enquiring after Causes. ’Tis no
doubt, in a Sort supernatural; and so the Deluge was: Yet _Moses_ sets
down the Causes of the Deluge, the Rains from above, and the Disruption
of the Abyss. So there must be Treasures of Fire provided against that
Day, by whose Eruption this second Deluge will be brought upon the
Earth.

To state the Case fairly, we must first represent the Difficulty of
setting the Earth on Fire; tye the Knot, before we loose it; that so we
may the better judge whether the Causes that shall be brought into View,
may be sufficient to overcome so great Opposition. The Difficulty, no
doubt, will be chiefly from the great Quantity of Water that is about
our Globe; whereby Nature seems to have made Provision against any
Invasion by Fire, and secur’d us from that Enemy more than any other. We
see half of the Surface of the Earth cover’d with the Seas, whose
Channel is of a vast Depth and Capacity: Besides innumerable Rivers,
great and small, that water the Face of the dry Land, and drench it with
perpetual Moisture. Then within the Bowels of the Earth, there are
Store-Houses of subterraneous Waters; which are as a Reserve, in case
the Ocean and the Rivers should be overcome. Neither is Water our only
Security, for the hard Rocks, and stony Mountains, which no Fire can
bide upon, are set in long Ranges upon the Continents and Islands; and
must needs give a Stop to the Progress of that furious Enemy, in case he
should attack us. Lastly, the Earth itself is not combustible in all its
Parts. ’Tis not every Soil that is fit Fewel for the Fire. Clay, and
Mire, and such like Soils, will rather choak and stifle it, than help it
on its Way. By these Means one would think the Body of the Earth
secur’d; and though there may be partial Fires, or Inundations of Fire,
here and there, in particular Regions, yet there cannot be an universal
Fire throughout the Earth. At least, one would hope for a safe Retreat
towards the Poles, where there is nothing but Snow, and Ice, and bitter
Cold. These Regions sure are in no Danger to be burnt, whatsoever
becomes of the other Climates of the Earth.

This being the State and Condition of the present Earth, one would not
imagine by these Preparations, ’twas ever intended that it should perish
by an universal Fire. But such is often the Method of Providence, that
the exterior Face of Things looks one Way, and the Design lies another;
’till at length, touching a Spring, as it were, at a certain Time, all
those Affairs change Posture and Aspect, and shew us which way
Providence inclines. We must therefore suppose, before the Conflagration
begins, there will be Dispositions and Preparatives suitable to so great
a Work: and all Antiquity, sacred and prophane, does so far concur with
us, as to admit and suppose that a great Drought will precede, and an
extraordinary Heat and Dryness of the Air, to usher in this fiery Doom.
And these being Things which often happen in a Course of Nature, we
cannot disallow such easy Preparations, when Providence intends so great
a Consequence. The Heavens will be shut up, and the Clouds yield no
Rain; and by this, with an immoderate Heat in the Air, the Springs of
Water will become dry, the Earth chapp’d and parch’d, and the Woods and
Trees made ready Fewel for the Fire. We have Instances, in History, that
there have been Droughts and Heats of this Nature, to that Degree, that
the Woods and Forests have taken Fire, and the outward Turf and Surface
of the Earth, without any other Cause than the Dryness of the Season,
and the Vehemency of the Sun. And, which is more considerable, the
Springs and Fountains being dry’d up, the greater Rivers have been
sensibly lessen’d, and the lesser quite empty’d, and exhal’d. These
Things, which happen frequently, in particular Countries and Climates,
may, at an appointed Time, by the Disposition of Providence, be more
universal throughout the Earth; and have the same Effects every where,
that we see by Experience they have had in certain Places: And by this
Means, we may conceive it as feasible to set the whole Earth on Fire in
some little Space of Time, as to burn up this, or that Country after a
great Drought. But I mean this, with Exception still to the main Body of
the Sea; which will indeed receive a greater Diminution from these
Causes, than we easily imagine; but the final Consumption of it will
depend upon other Reasons, whereof we must give an Account in the
following Chapters.

As to the Mountains and Rocks, their lofty Heads will sink when the
Earthquakes begin to roar, at the Beginning of the Conflagration; as we
shall see hereafter. And as to the Earth itself, ’tis true there are
several Sorts of Earth that are not proper Fuel for Fire; but those
Soils that are not so immediately, as clayey Soils, and such like, may,
by the Strength of Fire, be converted into Brick, or Stone, or earthen
Metal, and so melted down and vitrified. For, in Conclusion, there is no
terrestrial Body that does not finally yield to the Force of Fire, and
may either be converted into Flame, incorporated Fire, or into a Liquor
more ardent than either of them. Lastly, As to the Polar Regions, which
you think will be a safe Retreat and inaccessible to the Fire; ’tis
true, unless Providence hath laid subterraneous Treasures of Fire there
unknown to us, those Parts of the Earth will be the last consum’d. But
it is to be observ’d, that the Cold of those Regions proceeds from the
Length of their Winter, and their Distance from the Sun when he is
beyond the Æquator; and both these Causes will be removed at the
Conflagration. For we suppose the Earth will then return to its
primitive Situation, which we have explain’d in the second Book of this
_Theory_, _chap. iii._ and will have the Sun always in its Æquator;
whereby the several Climates of the Earth will have a perpetual Equinox,
and those under the Poles a perpetual Day: And therefore all the Excess
of Cold, and all the Consequences of it, will soon be abated. However,
the Earth will not be burnt in one Day, and those Parts of the Earth
being uninhabited, there is no Inconvenience that they should be more
slowly consum’d than the rest.

This is a general Answer to the Difficulty propos’d about the
Possibility of the Conflagration; and being general only, the Parts of
it must be more fully explain’d and confirm’d in the Sequel of this
Discourse. We should now proceed directly to the Causes of the
Conflagration, and shew in what manner they do this great Execution upon
Nature: But to be just and impartial in this Enquiry, we ought first to
separate the spurious and pretended Causes from those that are real and
genuine; to make no false Musters, nor any shew of being stronger than
we are; and if we can do our Work with less Force, it will be more to
our Credit; as a Victory is more honourable that is gain’d with fewer
Men.

There are two grand capital Causes which some Authors make use of, as
the chief Agents in this Work, the _Sun_, and the _Central Fire_. These
two great Incendiaries, they say, will be let loose upon us at the
Conflagration; the one drawing nearer to the Earth, and the other
breaking out of its Bowels into these upper Regions. These are potent
Causes indeed, more than enough to destroy this Earth, if it was a
thousand Times bigger than it is. But for that very Reason, I suspect
they are not the true Causes; for God and Nature do not use to employ
unnecessary Means to bring about their Designs. Disproportion and
Over-sufficiency is one sort of false Measures, and ’tis a Sign we do
not thoroughly understand our Work, when we put more Strength to it than
the Thing requires. Men are forward to call in extraordinary Powers, to
rid their Hands of a troublesome Argument, and so make a short Dispatch
to save themselves the Pains of further Enquiries; but as such Methods
as these commonly have no Proof, so they give little Satisfaction to an
Inquisitive Mind. This Supposition of burning the Earth, by the Sun
drawing nearer and nearer to it, seems to be made in Imitation of the
Story of _Phaeton_, who driving the Chariot of the Sun with an unsteady
Hand, came so near the Earth, that he set it on Fire. But however, we
will not reject any Pretensions without a fair Trial: Let us examine
therefore what Grounds they can have for either of these Suppositions,
of the Approximation of the Sun to the Earth, or the Eruption of the
Central Fire.

As to the Sun, I desire first to be satisfied in present Matter of Fact:
Whether by any Instrument or Observation it hath or can be discover’d,
that the Sun is nearer to the Earth now, than he was in former Ages? Or,
If by any Reasoning or comparing Calculations, such a Conclusion can be
made? If not, this is but an imaginary Cause, and as easily deny’d as
propos’d. Astronomers do very little agree in their Opinions about the
Distance of the Sun: _Ptolemy_, _Albategnius_, _Copernicus_, _Tycho_,
_Kepler_, and others more modern, differ all in their Calculations; but
not in such a Manner or Proportion, as should make us believe that the
Sun comes nearer to the Earth, but rather goes further from it. For the
more modern of them make the Distance greater than the more ancient do.
_Kepler_ says, the Distance of the Sun from the Earth lies betwixt 700
and 2000 Semidiameters of the Earth: But _Ricciolus_ makes it betwixt
700 and 7000: And _Gottefred Wendelme_ hath taken 14656 Semidiameters,
for a middle Proportion of the Sun’s Distance; to which _Kepler_ himself
came very near in his later Years. So that you see how groundless our
Fears are from the Approaches of an Enemy, that rather flies from us, if
he change Postures at all. And we have more Reason to believe the Report
of the modern Astronomers, than of the antient, in this Matter; both
because the Nature of the Heavens and of the celestial Bodies is now
better known, and also because they have found out better Instruments
and better Methods to make their Observations.

If the Sun and Earth were come nearer to one another, either the Circle
of the Sun’s diurnal Arch would be less, and so the Day shorter; or the
Orbit of the Earth’s annual Course would be less, and so the Year
shorter: Neither of which we have any Experience of. And those that
suppose us in the Centre of the World, need not be afraid ’till they see
_Mercury_ and _Venus_ in a Combustion, for they lie betwixt us and
Danger; and the Sun cannot come so readily at us with his fiery Darts,
as at them who stand in his Way. Lastly, this languishing Death, by the
gradual Approaches of the Sun, and that irreparable Ruin of the Earth,
which at last must follow from it, do neither of them agree with that
Idea of the _Conflagration_, which the Scripture hath given us; for it
is to come suddenly and unexpectedly, and take us off like a Violent
Fever, not as a lingring Consumption. And the Earth is also to be
destroyed by Fire, as not to take away all Hopes of a Resurrection, or
Renovation: For we are assur’d by Scripture, that there will be new
Heavens and a new Earth after these are burnt up. But if the Sun should
come so near us, as to make the _Heavens pass away with a Noise, and
melt the Elements with fervent Heat_, and destroy the Form, and all the
Works of the Earth, what Hopes or Possibility would there be of a
Renovation, while the Sun continu’d in this Posture? He would more and
more consume and prey upon the Carcass of the Earth, and convert it at
length either into an Heap of Ashes, or a Lump of vitrified Metal.

So much for the Sun. As to the _Central Fire_, I am very well satisfied
it is no imaginary Thing: All Antiquity hath preserv’d some sacred
Monument of it: The _Vestal_ Fire of the _Romans_, which was so
religiously attended: The _Prytoneia_ of the _Greeks_ were to the same
purpose, and dedicated to _Vesta_: And the _Pyretheia_ of the
_Persians_, where Fire was kept continually by the _Magi_. These all, in
my Opinion, had the same Origin, and the same Signification. And tho’ I
do not know any particular Observation, that does directly prove or
demonstrate that there is such a Mass of Fire in the middle of the
Earth; yet the best Accounts we have of the Generation of a Planet do
suppose it; and ’tis agreeable to the whole Oeconomy of Nature: As a
Fire in the Heart, which gives Life to her Motions and Productions. But,
however, the Question is not at present, about the Existence of this
Fire, but the Eruption of it, and the Effect of that Eruption; which
cannot be, in my Judgment, such a _Conflagration_ as describ’d in
Scripture.

This Central Fire must be enclos’d in a Shell of great Strength and
Firmness; for being of itself the lightest, and most active of all
Bodies, it would not be detained in the lowest Prison without a strong
Guard upon it. ’Tis true, we can make no certain Judgment of what
Thickness this Shell is; but if we suppose this Fire to have a twentieth
Part of the Semidiameter of the Earth, on either side the Centre, for
its Sphere, which seems to be a fair Allowance; there would still remain
nineteen Parts for our Safeguard and Security: And these nineteen Parts
of the Semidiameter of the Earth will make 3268 Miles, for a
Partition-Wall betwixt us and this Central Fire. Who would be afraid of
an Enemy lock’d up in so strong a Prison? But you’ll say, it may be,
tho’ the Central Fire, at the Beginning of the World, might have no more
Room or Space than what is mention’d; yet being of that Activity that it
is, and corrosive Nature, it may, in the Space of some thousands of
Years, have eaten deep into the Sides of its Prison; and so come nearer
to the Surface of the Earth by some hundreds or thousands of Miles, than
it was at first. This would be a material Exception, if it could be made
out. But what Phænomenon is there in Nature that proves this? How does
it appear by an Observation, that the Central Fire gains Ground upon us?
Or is increased in Quantity, or come nearer to the Surface of the Earth?
I know nothing that can be offer’d in Proof of this: and if there be no
Appearance of a Change, nor any sensible Effect of it, ’tis an Argument
there is none, or none considerable. If the Quantity of that Fire was
considerably increas’d, it must needs, besides other Effects, have made
the Body of the Earth considerably lighter. The Earth having, by this
Conversion of its own Substance into Fire, lost so much of its heaviest
Matter, and got so much of the lightest and most active Element instead
of it: and in both these respects, its Gravity would be manifestly
lessen’d. Which if it really was in any considerable Degree, it would
discover it self by some Change, either as to the Motion of the Earth,
or as to its Place or Station in the Heavens. But there being no
external Change observable, in this or any other respect, ’tis
reasonable to presume that there is no considerable inward Change, or no
great Consumption of its inward Parts and Substance; and consequently no
great Increase of the central Fire.

But if we should admit both an Increase and Eruption of this Fire, it
would not have that Effect which is pretended. It might cause some
Confusion and Disorder in those Parts of the Earth where it broke out,
but it would not make an universal Conflagration, such as is represented
to us in Scripture. Let us suppose the Earth to be open, or burst in any
Place; under the Pole, for Instance, or under the _Æquator_; and let it
gape as low as the Central Fire: At this Chasm or Rupture we suppose the
Fire would gush out; and what then would be the Consequence of this when
it came to the Surface of the Earth? It would either be dissipated and
lost in the Air, or fly still higher towards the Heavens in a Mass of
Flame. But what Execution in the mean time would it do upon the Body of
the Earth? ’Tis but like a Flash of Lightning, or a Flame issuing out of
a Pit, that dies presently. Besides, this Central Fire is of that
Subtilty and Tenuity, that it is not able to inflame gross Bodies: no
more than those Meteors we call _Lambent Fires_, inflame the Bodies to
which they stick. Lastly, in explaining the Manner of the Conflagration,
we must have regard principally to Scripture; for the Explications given
there are more to the purpose, than all that the Philosophers have said
upon that Subject. Now, as we noted before, ’tis manifest in Scripture,
that after the _Conflagration_, there will be a _Restauration_, _new
Heavens_, and a _new Earth_. ’Tis the express Doctrine of St. _Peter_,
besides other Prophets: We must therefore suppose the Earth reduc’d to
such a Chaos by this last Fire, as will lay the Foundation of a new
World, _2 Pet. iii. 12, 13._ Which can never be, if the inward Frame of
it be broke, the Central Fire exhausted, and the exterior Region suck’d
into those central Vacuities. This must needs make it lose its former
Poise and Libration, and it will thereupon be thrown into some other
Part of the Universe, as the useless Shell of a broken Granado, or as a
dead Carcass, and unprofitable Matter.

These Reasons may be sufficient why we should not depend upon those
pretended Causes of the _Conflagration_, the Sun’s Advance towards the
Earth, or such a Rupture of the Earth as will let out the Central Fire.
These Causes, I hope, will appear superfluous, when we shall have given
an Account of the _Conflagration_ without them. But young Philosophers,
like young Soldiers, think they are never sufficiently armed; and often
take more Weapons, than they can make use of, when they come to fight.
Not that we altogether reject the Influence of the Sun, or of the
Central Fire; especially the latter: For in that great Estuation of
Nature, the Body of the Earth will be much open’d and relaxated; and
when the Pores are enlarg’d, the Steams of that Fire will sweat out more
plentifully into all its Parts; but still without any Rupture in the
Vessels, or in the Skin. And whereas these Authors suppose the very
Veins to burst, and the vital Blood to gush out, as at open Flood-Gates,
we only allow a more copious Perspiration, and think that sufficient for
all Purposes in this Case.




                               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 exterior and visible upon the Earth; where the Vulcano’s
    of the Earth, and their Effects, are consider’d. Secondly, Such
    Materials as are within the Earth. Thirdly, Such as are in the Air._


As we have, in the preceding Chapter, laid aside those Causes of the
Conflagration which we thought too great and cumbersome; so now we must,
in like manner, examine the Effect, and reduce that to its just Measures
and Proportions, that there may be nothing left superfluous on either
side; then, by comparing the real Powers with the Work they are to do,
both being stated within their due Bounds, we may the better judge how
they are proportion’d to one another.

We noted before, that the Conflagration had nothing to do with the
Stars, and superior Heavens, but was wholly confin’d to this sublunary
World. And this Deluge of Fire will have much what the same Bounds, that
the Deluge of Water had formerly. This is according to St. _Peter_’s
Doctrine, for he makes the same Parts of the Universe to be the Subject
of both: Namely, the inferior Heavens and the Earth, _2 Pet. iii. 5, 6._
_The Heavens and the Earth which were then, perish’d in a Deluge of
Water_: ver. 7. _But the Heavens and the Earth that are now, are
reserv’d to Fire._ The present Heavens and Earth are substituted in the
Place of those that perish’d at the Deluge, and these are to be over-run
and destroy’d by Fire, as those were by Water. So that the Apostle takes
the same Regions, and the same Space and Compass for the one, as for the
other, and makes their Fate different according to their different
Constitution, and the different Order of Providence. This is the Sense
St. _Austin_ gives us of the Apostle’s Words, and these are the Bounds
he sets to the last Fire; whereof a modern Commentator is so well
assur’d, that he says, _Estius in loc. They neither understand Divinity,
nor Philosophy, that would make the Conflagration reach above the
elementary Heavens_.

Let these be then its Limits upwards, the Clouds, Air, and Atmosphere of
the Earth. But the Question seems more doubtful, _How_ far it will
extend downwards, into the Bowels of the Earth? I answer still, to the
same Depth that the Waters of the Deluge reach’d: To the lowest Abysses,
and the deepest Caverns within the Ground. And seeing no Caverns are
deeper or lower, at least according to our Theory, than the Bottom of
the great Ocean, to that Depth, I suppose, the Rage of this Fire will
penetrate, and devour all before it. And therefore we must not imagine,
that only the outward Turf and habitable Surface of the Earth will be
put into a Flame and laid waste: the whole exterior Region of the Earth,
to the Depth of the deepest Part of the Sea, will suffer in this Fire;
and suffer to that Degree, as to be melted down, and the Frame of it
dissolv’d. For we are not to conceive that the Earth will be only
scorcht or charkt in the last Fire, there will be a Sort of Liquefaction
and Dissolution; _Rev. xv. 2._ _2 Pet. iii. 10._ _Psal. xcvii. 5._ it
will become a _molten Sea mingled with Fire_, according to the
Expression of Scripture. And this Dissolution may reasonably be suppos’d
to reach as low as the Earth hath any Hollownesses, or can give vent to
Smoak and Flame.

Wherefore, taking these for the Bounds and Limits of the last great
Fire, the next Thing to be enquired into, are the _Natural Causes_ of
it: How this strange Fate will seize upon the sublunary World, and with
an irresistible Fury subdue all Things to it self. But when I say
_Natural Causes_, I would not be so understood, as if I thought the
Conflagration was a pure _Natural Fatality_, as the _Stoicks_ seem to
do. No, ’tis a _mix’d Fatality_; the Causes indeed are Natural, but the
Administration of them is from an higher Hand. Fire is the Instrument,
or the executive Power, and hath no more Force given it than what it
hath naturally; but the Concurrence of these Causes, or of these fiery
Powers, at such a Time, and in such a Manner, and the Conduct of them to
carry on and complete the whole Work without Cessation or Interruption,
that I look upon as more than what material Nature could effect of
itself, or than could be brought to pass by such a Government of Matter,
as is the bare Result of its own Laws and Determinations. When a Ship
falls gently before the Wind, the Mariners may stand idle; but to guide
her in a Storm, all Hands must be at Work. There are Rules and Measures
to be observ’d, even in these Tumults and Desolations of Nature, in
destroying a World, as well as in making one, and, therefore, in both it
is reasonable to suppose a more than ordinary Providence to superintend
the Work. Let us not, therefore, be too positive or presumptuous in our
Conjectures about these Things; for if there be an invisible Hand,
Divine or Angelical, that touches the Springs and Wheels; it will not be
easy for us to determine, with Certainty, the Order of their Motions.
However, ’tis our Duty to search into the Ways and Works of God, as far
as we can: And we may, without Offence, look into the Magazines of
Nature; see what Provisions are made, and what Preparations for this
great Day; and in what Method ’tis most likely the Design will be
executed.

But before we proceed to mark out Materials for this Fire, give me leave
to observe one Condition or Property in the Form of this present Earth,
that makes it capable of Inflammation. ’Tis the Manner of its
Construction, in an hollow cavernous Form: By reason whereof, containing
much Air in its Cavities, and having many Inlets and Outlets, ’tis in
most Places capable of Ventilation, pervious and passable to the Winds,
and consequently to the Fire. Those that have read the former Part of
this Theory, _Book 1. ch. 6, 7._ know how the Earth came into this
hollow and broken Form; from what Causes and at what Time; namely, at
the universal Deluge; when there was a Disruption of the exterior Earth
that fell into the Abyss, and so, for a Time was overflow’d with Water.
These Ruins, recover’d from the Water, we inhabit, and these Ruins, only
will be burnt up; for being not only unequal in their Surface, but also
hollow, loose, and incompact within, as Ruins use to be, they are made
thereby capable of a second Fate, by Inflammation. _Thereby_, I say,
they are made combustible; for if the exterior Regions of this Earth
were as close and compact in all their Parts, as we have Reason to
believe the interior Regions of it to be, the Fire could have little
Power over it, nor ever reduce it to such a State as is requir’d in a
compleat Conflagration, such as ours is to be.

This being admitted, that the exterior Region of the Earth stands
hollow, as a well set Fire, to receive Air freely into its Parts, and
hath Issues for Smoke and Flame: It remains to enquire, what Fuel or
Materials Nature hath fitted to kindle this Pile, and to continue it on
Fire ’till it be consum’d; or, in plain Words, what are the _natural
Causes and Preparatives for a Conflagration_. The first and most obvious
Preparations that we see in Nature for this Effect, are the _burning
Mountains_, or Volcano’s of the Earth. These are lesser Essays or
Preludes to the general Fire: set on purpose by Providence to keep us
awake, and to mind us continually, and forewarn us of what we are to
expect at last. The Earth, you see, is already kindled, blow but the
Coal, and propagate the Fire, and the Work will go on, _Isa._ xxx. 33.
_Tophet is prepared of old_; and when the Day of Doom is come, and the
Date of the World expir’d, _the Breath of the Lord_ shall make it burn.

But besides these burning Mountains, there are Lakes of Pitch and
Brimstone, and oily Liquors dispers’d in several Parts of the Earth.
These are to enrage the Fire as it goes, and to fortify it against any
Resistance or Opposition. Then all the vegetable Productions upon the
Surface of the Earth, as Trees, Shrubs, Grass, Corn, and such like;
every thing that grows out of the Ground, is Fewel for the Fire; and
tho’ they are now accommodated to our Use and Service, they will then
turn all against us; and with a mighty Blaze, and rapid Course, make a
Devastation of the outward Furniture of the Earth, whether natural or
artificial. But these Things deserve some further Consideration,
especially that strange Phænomenon of the _Volcano_’s or _burning
Mountains_, which we will now consider more particularly.

There is nothing certainly more terrible in all Nature than fiery
Mountains to those that live within the View or Noise of them; but it is
not easy for us, who never see them, nor heard them, to represent them
to ourselves with such just and lively Imaginations as shall excite in
us the same Passions, and the same Horror as they would excite, if
present to our Senses. The Time of their Eruption, and of their Raging,
is, of all others, the most dreadful; but, many times, before their
Eruption, the Symptoms of an approaching Fit are very frightful to the
People. The Mountain begins to roar and bellow in its hollow Caverns;
cries out, as it were, in Pain to be deliver’d of some Burthen too heavy
to be born, and too big to be easily discharged. The Earth shakes and
trembles, in Apprehension of the Pangs and Convulsions that are coming
upon her; and the Sun often hides his Head, or appears with a
discolour’d Face, pale, or dusky, or bloody, as if all Nature was to
suffer in this Agony. After these Forerunners or Symptoms of an
Eruption, the wide Jaws of the Mountain open: And first, Clouds of Smoke
issue out, then Flames of Fire, and after that a Mixture of all Sorts of
burning Matter; red hot Stones, Lumps of Metal, half-dissolv’d Minerals,
with Coals and fiery Ashes. These fall in thick Showers round about the
Mountain, and in all adjacent Parts; and not only so, but are carried,
partly by the Force of the Expulsion, and partly by the Winds when they
are aloft in the Air, into far distant Countries. As from _Italy_ to
_Constantinople_, and cross the _Mediterranean_ Sea into _Africk_; as
the best Historians, _Procopius_, _Ammianus Marcellinus_, and _Dion
Cassius_, have attested.

These Vulcano’s are planted in several Regions of the Earth, and in both
Continents, this of ours, and the other of _America_. For by Report of
those that have view’d that new-found World, there are many Mountains in
it that belch out Smoke and Fire; some constantly, and others by Fits,
and Intervals. In our Continent, Providence hath variously dispers’d
them, without any Rule known to us; but they are generally in Islands,
or near the Sea. In the _Asiatick_ Oriental Islands they are in great
Abundance, and Historians tell us of a Mountain in the Island _Java_,
that in the Year 1586, at one Eruption, kill’d ten thousand People in
the neighbouring Cities and Country: But we do not know so well the
History of those remote Vulcano’s, as of such as are in _Europe_ and
nearer Home. In _Iseland_, tho’ it lie within the polar Circle, and is
scarce habitable by reason of the Extremity of Cold, and abundance of
Ice and Snow, yet there are three burning Mountains in that Island;
whereof the chief and most remarkable is _Hecla_. This hath its Head
always cover’d with Snow, and its Belly always fill’d with Fire; and
these are both so strong in their kind, and equally powerful, that they
cannot destroy one another. It is said to cast out, when it rages,
besides Earth, Stones, and Ashes, a Sort of flaming Water; as if all
Contrarieties were to meet in this Mountain, to make it the more perfect
Resemblance of Hell, as the credulous Inhabitants fancy it to be.

But there are no Vulcano’s, in my Opinion, that deserve our Observation
so much, as those that are in and about the _Mediterranean Sea_; There
is a Knot of them, called the _Vulcanian Islands_, from their fiery
Eruptions, as if they were the Forges of _Vulcan_; as _Strombolo_,
_Lapara_, and others, which are not so remarkable now, as they have been
formerly. However, without dispute, there are none in the Christian
World to be compared with _Ætna_ and _Vesuvius_; one in the Island of
_Sicily_, and the other in _Campania_, overlooking the Port and City of
_Naples_. These two, from all Memory of Man, and the most antient
Records of History, have been fam’d for the Treasures of subterraneous
Fires, which are not yet exhausted, nor diminsh’d, so far as is
perceivable; for they rage still, upon Occasion, with as much Fierceness
and Violence, as they ever did in former Ages; as if they had a
continual Supply to answer their Expences, and were to stand till the
last Fire, as a Type and Prefiguration of it, throughout all
Generations.

Let us therefore take these two Volcano’s as a Pattern for the rest;
seeing they are well known, and stand in the Heart of the Christian
World, where, ’tis likely, the last Fire will make its first Assault.
_Ætna_, of the two, is more spoken of by the Antients, both Poets and
Historians; and we should scarce give Credit to their Relations
concerning it, if some later Eruptions did not equal, or exceed the Fame
of all that have been reported from former Ages: That it heated the
Waters of the Sea, and cover’d them over with Ashes; crack’d, or
dissolv’d the neighbouring Rocks; darken’d the Sun and the Air; and cast
out, not only mighty Streams of Flame, but a Flood of melted Ore, and
other Materials: These Things we can now believe, having had Experience
of greater, or and Account of them from such, as have been Eye-Witnesses
of these Fires, or of the fresh Ruins and sad Effects of them.

There are two Things especially, in these Eruptions of _Ætna_, that are
most prodigious in themselves, and most remarkable for our Purpose: The
Rivers of fiery Matter that break out of its Bowels, or are spew’d out
of its Mouth; and the vast burning Stones which it flings into the Air,
at a strange Height and Distance. As to these fiery Rivers, or Torrents,
and the Matter whereof they are compounded, we have a full Account of
them by _Alphonsus Borellus_, a learned Mathematician at _Pisa_; who,
after the last great Eruption on the Year 1669, went into _Sicily_,
while the Fact was fresh, to view and survey what _Ætna_ had done or
suffer’d; and he says, the Quantity of Matter thrown out of the Mountain
at that Time, upon Survey, amounted to ninety three Millions, eight
Hundred thirty eight Thousand, seven Hundred and fifty cubical Paces. So
that if it had been extended in Length upon the Surface of the Earth, it
would reach further than ninety three Millions of Paces; which is more
than four times the Circumference of the whole Earth, taking a thousand
Paces to a Mile. This is strange to our Imagination, and almost
incredible, that one Mountain should throw out so much fiery Matter,
besides all the Ashes that were disperst through the Air, far and near,
and could be brought to no Account.

’Tis true, all this Matter was not actually inflam’d or liquid Fire; but
the rest, that was Sand, Stone, and Gravel, might have run into Glass,
or some melted Liquor like to it, if it had not been thrown out before
the Heat fully reach’d it: However, sixty Million Paces of this Matter,
as the same Author computes, were liquid Fire, or came out of the Mouth
of the Pit in that Form; this made a River of Fire, sometimes two Miles
broad, according to his Computation; but, according to the Observation
of others who also viewed it, the Torrent of Fire was six or seven Miles
broad, and sometimes ten or fifteen Fathoms deep; and forc’d its Way
into the Sea near a Mile, preserving it self alive in the midst of the
Waters.

This is beyond all the infernal Lakes and Rivers _Acheron_, _Phlegeton_,
_Cocytus_; all that the Poets have talk’d of: Their greatest Fictions
about Hell have not come up to the Reality of one of our burning
Mountains upon Earth. Imagine then, all our _Volcano_’s raging at once
in this manner——But I will not pursue that Supposition yet: Give me
leave only to add here, what I mentioned in the second Place, the vast
_Burning Stones_ which this Mountain, in the time of its Rage and
Æstuation, threw into the Air with an incredible Force. This same Author
tells us of a Stone fifteen Foot long, that was flung out of the Mouth
of the Pit, to a Mile’s Distance; and when it fell, it came from such an
Height, and with such a Violence, that it buried it self in the Ground
eight Foot deep. What Trifles are our Mortar-Pieces and Bombs, when
compared with these Engines of Nature? When she flings, out of the wide
Throat of a _Volcano_, a broken Rock, and twirls it in the Air like a
little Bullet; then lets it fall, to do Execution here below, as
Providence shall point and direct it! It would be hard to give an
Account, how so great an Impulse can be given to a Body so ponderous:
But there’s no disputing against Matter of Fact; and as the Thoughts of
God are not like our Thoughts, so neither are his Works like our Works.

Thus much for _Ætna_. Let us now give an Instance in _Vesuvius_, another
burning Mountain upon the Coast of the _Mediterranean_, which hath as
frequent Eruptions, and some as terrible as those of _Ætna_. _Lib. 66.
Dion. Cassius_ (one of the best Writers of the _Roman_ History) hath
given us an Account of one that happened in the Time of _Titus
Vespasian_; and tho’ he hath not set down Particulars, as the former
Author did, of the Quantity of fiery Matter thrown out at that Time: yet
supposing that proportionable to its Fierceness in other Respects, this
seems to me as dreadful an Eruption as any we read of; and was
accompanied with such Prodigies and Commotions in the Heavens and the
Earth, as made it look like the Beginning of the last Conflagration. As
a Prelude to this Tragedy, he says, there were strange Sights in the
Air, and after that followed an extraordinary Drought: _Then the Earth
begun to tremble and quake; and the Concussions were so great, that the
Ground seem’d to rise and boil up in some Places, and in others the Tops
of the Mountains sunk in, or tumbled down: At the same Time were great
Noises and Sounds heard; some were subterraneous, like Thunder within
the Earth; others above Ground, like Groans or Bellowings. The Sea
roared, the Heavens ratled with a fearful Noise, and then came a sudden
and mighty Crack, as if the Frame of Nature had broke, or all the
Mountains of the Earth had fallen down at once. At length Vesuvius
burst, and threw out of its Womb, first, huge Stones, then a vast
Quantity of Fire and Smoke, so as the Air was all darkned, and the Sun
was hid, as if he had been under a great Eclipse. The Day was turn’d
into Night, and Light into Darkness; and the frighted People thought the
Giants were making War against Heaven, and fansied they saw the Shapes
and Images of Giants in the Smoke, and heard the Sound of their
Trumpets: Others thought, the World was returning to its first Chaos, or
going to be all consumed with Fire. In this general Confusion and
Consternation, they knew not where to be safe; some run out of the
Fields into the Houses, others out of the Houses into the Fields; those
that were at Sea hastened to Land, and those that were at Land
endeavoured to get to Sea; still thinking every Place safer than that
where they were. Besides grosser Lumps of Matter, there was thrown out
of the Mountain such a prodigious Quantity of Ashes, as cover’d the Land
and Sea, and filled the Air, so as besides other Damages, the Birds,
Beasts and Fishes, with Men, Women, and Children were destroy’d, within
such a Compass; and two entire Cities, Herculanium and Pompeios, were
overwhelm’d with a Shower of Ashes, as the People were sitting in the
Theatre. Nay, these Ashes were carried, by the Winds, over the
Mediterranean into Africk, and into Ægypt and Syria. And at Rome they
choak’d the Air on a sudden, so as to hide the Face of the Sun;
Whereupon the People not knowing the Cause, as not having yet got the
News from Campania, of the Eruption of Vesuvius, could not imagine what
the Reason should be; but thought the Heavens and the Earth were coming
together, the Sun coming down, and the Earth going to take its Place
above._ Thus far the Historian.

You see what Disorders in Nature, and what an Alarum, the Eruption of
one fiery Mountain is capable to make. These Things, no doubt, would
have made strong Impressions upon us, if we had been Eye-Witnesses of
them; but I know, Representations made from dead History, and at a
Distance, though the Testimony be never so credible, have a much less
Effect upon us, than what we see ourselves, and what our Senses
immediately inform us of. I have only given you an Account of two
_Volcano’s_, and of a single Eruption in either of them: These Mountains
are not very far distant from one another; let us suppose two such
Eruptions, as I have mentioned, to happen at the same Time, and both
these Mountains to be raging at once in this Manner; by that Violence
you have seen in each of them singly, you will easily imagine what
Terror and Desolation they would carry round about, by a Conjunction of
their Fury, and all their Effects, in the Air, and on the Earth. Then,
if to these two you should join two more, the Sphere of their Activity
would still be enlarged, and the Scenes become more dreadful. But to
compleat the Supposition, let us imagine all the Volcano’s of the whole
Earth to be prepar’d, and set to a certain Time; which Time being come,
and a Signal given by Providence, all these Mines begin to play at once;
I mean, all these fiery Mountains burst out, and discharge themselves in
Flames of Fire, tear up the Roots of the Earth, throw hot burning
Stones, send out Streams of flowing Metals and Minerals, and all other
Sorts of ardent Matter, which Nature hath lodg’d in those Treasuries: If
all these Engines, I say, were to play at once, the Heavens and the
Earth would seem to be in a Flame, and the World in an universal
Combustion. But we may reasonably presume, that against that great Day
of Vengeance and Execution, not only all these will be employ’d, but
also new Volcano’s will be opened, and new Mountains in every Region
will break out into Smoke and Flame; just as at the Deluge, the Abyss
broke out from the Womb of the Earth, and from those hidden Stores sent
an immense Quantity of Water, which, it may be the Inhabitants of that
World never thought of before: So we must expect new Eruptions, and also
new sulphureous Lakes, and Fountains of Oyl, to boyl out of the Ground:
and these, all united with that Fewel that naturally grows upon the
Surface of the Earth, will be sufficient to give the first Onset, and to
lay waste all the habitable World, and the Furniture of it.

But we suppose the Conflagration will go lower, pierce under Ground, and
dissolve the Substance of the Earth to some considerable Depth:
Therefore, besides these outward and visible Preparations, we must
consider all the hidden invisible Materials within the Veins of the
Earth; Such are all Minerals, or mineral Juices and Concretions that are
igniferous, or capable of Inflammation; and these cannot easily be
reckoned up, or estimated; some of the most common are Sulphur, and all
sulphureous Bodies, and Earths impregnated with Sulphur, Bitumen, and
bituminous Concretions; inflammable Salts, Coal and other Fossils that
are ardent; with innumerable Mixtures and Compositions of these Kinds,
which, being open’d by Heat, are unctuous and inflammable, or by
Attrition discover the latent Seeds of Fire. But besides consistent
Bodies, there is also much volatile Fire within the Earth, in Fumes,
Steams, and Exudations, which will all contribute to this Effect. From
these Stores under Ground, all Plants and Vegetables are fed and
supplied, as to their oily and sulphureous Parts, and all hot Waters in
Baths or Fountains, must have their Original from some of these, some
Mixture or Participation of them; and as to the _British_ Soil, there is
so much Coal incorporated with it, that when the Earth shall burn, we
have Reason to apprehend no small Danger from that subterraneous Enemy.

These Dispositions, and this Fewel we find, in and upon the Earth,
towards the last Fire. The third Sort of Provision is in the Air; all
fiery Meteors and Exhalations engender’d and form’d in those Regions
above, and discharg’d upon the Earth in several Ways. I believe there
were no fiery Meteors in the antedeluvian Heavens; which therefore Saint
_Peter_ says, _were constituted of Water_, had nothing in them but what
was watery; but he says _the Heavens that are now_, have Treasures of
Fire, or are reserv’d for Fire, as Things laid up in a Store-House for
that Purpose. We have Thunder and Lightning, and fiery Tempests, and
there is nothing more vehement, impetuous, and irresistible, where their
Force is directed. It seems to me very remarkable, that the Holy Writers
describe the _Coming of the Lord_, and the Destruction of the Wicked, in
the Nature of a Tempest, or a Storm of Fire, _Psalm xi. 6._ _Upon the
Wicked the Lord shall rain Coals, Fire and Brimstone, and a burning
Tempest; this shall be the Portion of their Cup_. And in the lofty Song
of _David_, _Psal. xviii._ (which, in my Judgment, respects both the
past Deluge and the future Conflagration) ’tis said, _Ver. 13, 14, 15_.
_The Lord also thundered in the Heavens, and the Highest gave his Voice,
Hail-stones and Coals of Fire. Yea, he sent forth his Arrows and
scattered them, and he shot out Lightnings and discomfited them. Then
the Channels of Waters were seen, and the Foundations of the World were
discover’d; at thy Rebuke, O Lord, at the Blast of the Breath of thy
Nostrils_. And a like fiery Coming is described in the _97th Psalm_, as
also by _Isaiah_, _Isa. lxvi. 15._ _Daniel_, _Dan. vii. 9, 10._ and St.
_Paul_, _2 Thess. i. 8._ And lastly, in the _Apocalypse_, when the World
draws to a Conclusion, as in the seventh Trumpet (_Chap. xi. 19._) and
the seventh Vial (_Chap. xvi. 18._) we have still mention made of this
fiery Tempest of Lightnings and Thunderings.

We may therefore reasonably suppose, that, before the Conflagration, the
Air will be surcharg’d every where (by a precedent Drought) with hot and
fiery Exhalations: And as against the Deluge those Regions were
burthen’d with Water and moist Vapours, which were pour’d upon the
Earth, not in gentle Showers, but like Rivers and Cataracts from Heaven;
so they will now be filled with hot Fumes and sulphureous Clouds, which
will sometimes flow in Streams and fiery Impressions through the Air,
sometimes make Thunder and Lightnings, and sometimes fall down upon the
Earth in Floods of Fire. In general, there is a great Analogy to be
observed betwixt the two Deluges of Water and of Fire, not only as to
the Bounds of them, which were noted before; but as to the general
Causes and Sources upon which they depend, from above and from below. At
the Flood, the Windows of Heaven were open’d above, and the Abyss was
open’d below; and the Waters of these two join’d together to overflow
the World: In like manner, at the Conflagration, God will rain down Fire
from Heaven, as he did once upon _Sodom_; and at the same time the
subterraneous Store-houses of Fire will be broken open; which answers to
the Disruption of the Abyss: And these two meeting and mingling
together, will involve all the Heaven and Earth in Flames.

This is a short Account of the ordinary Stores of Nature, and the
ordinary Preparations for a general Fire; and, in Contemplation of
these, _Pliny_ the Naturalist said boldly, _It was one of the greatest
Wonders of the World, that the World was not every Day set on Fire_. We
will conclude this Chapter with his Words, in the second Book of his
_Natural Hist._ ch. 106, 107. Having given an Account of some fiery
Mountains and other Parts of the Earth that are the Seats and Sources of
Fire, he makes this Reflection: _Seeing this Element is so fruitful,
that it brings forth it self, and multiplies and encreases from the
least Sparks; what art we to expect from so many Fires already kindled
on the Earth? How does Nature feed and satisfy so devouring an Element,
and such a great Voracity throughout all the World, without Loss or
Diminution of herself? Add to these Fires we have mentioned, the Stars
and the great Sun; then all the Fires made for human Uses; Fire in
Stones, in Wood, in the Clouds, and in Thunder; IT EXCEEDS ALL MIRACLES,
IN MY OPINION, THAT ONE DAY SHOULD PASS WITHOUT SETTING THE WORLD ALL ON
FIRE._




                              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 engaged in this Work._


We have given an Account, in the preceding Chapter, of the ordinary
Preparations of Nature for a general Fire; we now are to give an Account
of the extraordinary, or of any new Dispositions, which, towards the End
of the World, may be super-added to the ordinary State of Nature. I do
not, by these, mean Things openly miraculous and supernatural; but such
a Change wrought in Nature, as shall still have the Face of natural
Causes, and yet have a greater Tendency to the Conflagration. As, for
Example, suppose a great Drought, as we noted before, to precede this
Fate, or a general Heat and Dryness of the Air, and of the Earth;
because this happens sometimes in a Course of Nature, it will not be
look’d upon as prodigious. ’Tis true, some of the Antients speak of a
Drought of forty Years, that will be a Fore-runner of the Conflagration;
so that there will not be a watery Cloud, nor Rainbow seen in the
Heavens, for so long a Time. And this they impute to _Elias_, who at his
Coming, will stop the Rain, and shut up the Heavens to make way for the
last Fire. But these are excessive and ill-grounded Suppositions; for
half forty Years Drought will bring an universal Sterility upon the
Earth, and thereupon an universal Famine, with innumerable Diseases; so
that all Mankind would be destroyed, before the Conflagration could
overtake them.

But we will readily admit an extraordinary Drought and Desiccation of
all Bodies to usher in this great Fatality. And therefore, whatsoever we
read in natural History, concerning former Droughts, of their drying up
Fountains and Rivers, parching the Earth, and making the outward Turf
take Fire in several Places; filling the Air with fiery Impressions,
making the Woods and Forests ready Fewel, and sometimes to kindle by the
Heat of the Sun, or a Flash of Lightning: These and what other Effects
have come to pass in former Droughts, may come to pass again; and that
in an higher Measure, and so as to be of more general Extent. And we
must also allow, that by this means, a great degree of Inflammability,
or Easiness to be set on Fire, will be super-induc’d, both into the Body
of the Earth, and of all Things that grow upon it. The Heat of the Sun
will pierce deeper into its Bowels, when it gapes to receive his Beams,
and by Chinks and widened Pores makes way for their Passage to its very
Heart. And, on the other Hand, it is not improbable, but that upon this
general Relaxation, and Incalescency of the Body of the Earth, the
_Central Fire_ may have a freer Efflux, and diffuse itself in greater
abundance every Way; so as to affect even these exterior Regions of the
Earth, so far as to make them still more catching, and more combustible.

From this external and internal Heat acting upon the Body of the Earth,
all Minerals, that have the Seeds of Fire in them, will be open’d, and
exhale their Effluviums more copiously. As Spices, when warm’d are more
odoriferous, and fill the Air with their Perfumes; so the Particles of
Fire that are shut up in several Bodies, will easily fly abroad, when,
by a further degree of Relaxation, you shake off their Chains, and open
the Prison Doors. We cannot doubt, but there are many Sorts of Minerals,
and many Sorts of Fire-stones, and of Trees and Vegetables of this
Nature, which will sweat out their oily and sulphureous Atoms, when by a
general Heat and Dryness their Parts are loosen’d and agitated.

We have no Experience that will reach so far, as to give us a full
Account what the State of Nature will be at that Time; I mean, after
this Drought, towards the End of the World; but we may help our
Imagination, by comparing it with other Seasons and Temperaments of the
Air. As therefore in the Spring the Earth is fragrant, and the Fields
and Gardens are fill’d with the sweet Breathings of Herbs and Flowers;
especially after a gentle Rain; when their Bodies are softened, and the
Warmth of the Sun makes them evaporate more freely: So a greater degree
of Heat acting upon all the Bodies of the Earth, like a stronger Fire in
the Alembick, will extract another sort of Parts or Particles, more
deeply incorporated, and more difficult to be disintangled; I mean oily
Parts, and such undiscover’d Parcels of Fire, as lie fix’d and
imprison’d in hard Bodies: These, I imagine, will be in a great measure
set afloat, or drawn out into the Air, which will abound with hot and
dry Exhalations, more than with Vapours and Moisture in a wet Season;
and by this Means, all Elements and elementary Bodies will stand ready,
and in a proximate Disposition to be inflamed.

Thus much concerning the last Drought, and the general Effects of it. In
the next Place, we must consider the Earthquakes that will precede the
Conflagration, and the Consequences of them. I noted before, that the
cavernous and broken Construction of the present Earth, was that which
made it obnoxious to be destroy’d by Fire; as its former Construction
over the Abyss, made it obnoxious to be destroy’d with Water. This
Hollowness of the Earth is most sensible in mountainous and hilly
Countries, which therefore I look upon as most subject to burning; but
the plain Countries may also be made hollow and hilly by Earthquakes,
when the Vapours, not finding an easy Vent, raise the Ground, and make a
forcible Eruption, as at the springing of a Mine. And tho’ plain
Countries are not so subject to Earthquakes as mountainous, because they
have not so many Cavities, and subterraneous Vaults, to lodge the
Vapours in; yet every Region hath more or less of them: And after this
Drought, the Vacuities of the Earth being every where enlarg’d, the
Quantity of Exhalations much increas’d, and the Motion of them more
strong and violent, they will have their Effects in many Places where
they never had any before. Yet I do not suppose that this will raise new
Ridges of Mountains, like the _Alps_, or _Pyreneans_, in those Countries
that are now plain, but that they will break and loosen the Ground, make
greater Inequalities in the Surface, and greater Cavities within, than
what are at present in those Places: and by this means the Fire will
creep under them, and find a Passage thorough them, with more Ease than
if they were compact, and every where continu’d and unbroken.

But you will say, it may be, How does it appear that there will be more
frequent Earthquakes towards the End of the World? If this precedent
Drought be admitted, ’tis plain that fiery Exhalation will abound every
where within the Earth, and will have a greater Agitation than ordinary;
and these being the Causes of Earthquakes, when they are rarified and
inflamed, ’tis reasonable to suppose, that in such a State of Nature,
they will more frequently happen, than at other Times. Besides,
Earthquakes are taken Notice of in Scripture, as Signs and Fore-runners
of the last Day, as they usually are of all great Changes and
Calamities. The Destruction of _Jerusalem_ was a Type of the Destruction
of the World, and the Evangelists always mention Earthquakes amongst the
ominous Prodigies that were to attend it. But these Earthquakes we are
speaking of at present are but the Beginnings of Sorrow, and not to be
compar’d with those that will follow afterwards, when Nature is
convuls’d in her last Agony, just as the Flames are seizing on her. Of
which we shall have Occasion to speak hereafter.

These Changes will happen as to the _Matter_ and _Form_ of the Earth,
before it is attack’d by the last Fire: There will be also another
Change as to the _Situation_ of it; for that will be rectified, and the
Earth restor’d to the Posture it had at first, namely, of a right
Aspect, and Conversion to the Sun. But because I cannot determine at
what Time this Restitution will be, whether at the Beginning, Middle, or
End of the Conflagration, I will not presume to lay any Stress upon it.
_Plato_ seems to have imputed the Conflagration to this only; which is
so far true, that the Revolution, call’d _the Great Year_, is this very
Revolution, or the Return of the Earth, and the Heavens to their first
Posture. But tho’ this may be contemporary with the last Fire, or some
way concomitant; yet it does not follow that it is the Cause of it, much
less the only Cause. It may be an Occasion of making the Fire reach more
easily towards the Poles, when by this Change of Situation their long
Nights, and long Winters shall be taken away.

The new Dispositions in our Earth which we expect before that great Day,
may be look’d upon as extraordinary, but not as miraculous, because they
may proceed from natural Causes. But now in the last Place, we are to
consider _miraculous Causes_: What Influence they may have, or what Part
they may bear, in this great Revolution of Nature. By _miraculous
Causes_ we understand either God’s immediate Omnipotency, or the
Ministry of Angels; and what may be perform’d by the latter, is very
improperly and undecently thrown upon the former. ’Tis a great Step to
Omnipotency: and ’tis hard to define what Miracles, on this side
Creation, require an infinite Power. We are sure that the Angels are
Ministring Spirits, and ten thousand times ten thousand stand about the
Throne of the Almighty, to receive his Commands and execute his
Judgments. That perfect Knowledge they have of the Powers of Nature, and
of conducting those Powers to the best Advantage, by adjusting Causes in
a fit Subordination one to another, makes them capable of performing,
not only things far above our Force, but even above our Imagination:
Besides, they have a radical inherent Power, belonging to the Excellency
of their Nature, of determining the Motions of Matter, within a far
greater Sphere than human Souls can pretend to. We can only command our
Spirits, and determine their Motions within the Compass of our own
Bodies; but their Activity and Empire is of far greater Extent, and the
outward World is much more subject to their Dominion than to ours. From
these Considerations it is reasonable to conclude, that the generality
of Miracles may be, and are perform’d by Angels; it being less decorous
to employ a sovereign Power, where a subaltern is sufficient; and when
we hastily cast Things upon God, for quick Dispatch, we consult our own
Ease more than the Honour of our Maker.

I take it for granted here, that what is done by an angelical Hand, is
truly providential, and of divine Administration; and also justly bears
the Character of a Miracle. Whatsoever may be done by pure material
Causes, or human Strength, we account natural; and whatsoever is above
these, we call supernatural and miraculous. Now what is supernatural and
miraculous, is either the Effect of an angelical Power, or of a
sovereign and infinite Power; and we ought not to confound these two, no
more than natural and supernatural; for there is a greater Difference
betwixt the highest angelical Power and Omnipotency, than betwixt an
human Power, and angelical. Therefore, as the first Rule concerning
Miracles is this, that we must not fly to Miracles, where Man and Nature
are sufficient; so the second Rule is this, that we must not fly to a
sovereign infinite Power, where an angelical is sufficient. And the
Reason in both Rules is the same, namely, because it argues a Defect of
Wisdom in all Oeconomies to employ more and greater Means than are
sufficient.

Now to make Application of this to our present Purpose, I think it
reasonable, and also sufficient, to admit the Ministry of Angels in the
future Conflagration of the World. If Nature will not lay violent Hands
upon her self, or is not sufficient to work her own Destruction, let us
allow _Destroying Angels_ to interest themselves in the Work, as the
Executioners of the Divine Justice and Vengeance upon a degenerate
World. We have Examples of this so frequently in sacred History, how the
Angels have executed God’s Judgments upon a Nation or a People, that it
cannot seem new or strange, that in this last Judgment, which by all the
Prophets is represented as the _Great Day of the Lord_, the Day of his
Wrath, and of his Fury, the same Angels should bear their Parts, and
conclude the last Scene of that Tragedy which they had acted in all
along. We read of the _Destroying Angel in Ægypt_, _Gen._ xii. 23. of
Angels that presided at the Destruction of _Sodom_, _Gen. xix. 13._
which was a Type of the future Destruction of the World, (_Jude vii._)
_2. Thess. i. 7, 8._ and of Angels that will accompany our Saviour when
he comes in Flames of Fire; not, we suppose, to be Spectators only, but
Actors and Superintendants in this great Catastrophe.

This Ministry of Angels may be either in ordering and conducting such
natural Causes as we have already given an Account of, or in adding new
ones, if Occasion be; I mean, increasing the Quantity of Fire, or of
fiery Materials, in and about the Earth; so as that Element shall be
more abundant and more predominant, and overbear all Opposition that
either Water, or any other Body, can make against it. It is not material
whether of these two Suppositions we follow, provided we allow that the
Conflagration is a Work of Providence, and not a pure natural Fatality.
If it be necessary that there should be an Augmentation made of fiery
Matter, ’tis not hard to conceive how that may be done, either from the
Heavens, or from the Earth, _Isa. xxx. 26._ The Prophets sometimes speak
of multiplying or strengthening the Light of the Sun, and it may as
easily be conceiv’d of his Heat as of his Light; as if the Vial that was
to be pour’d upon it, _Rev. xxvi. 8._ and _gave it a Power to scorch Men
with Fire_, had something of a natural Sense as well as moral. But there
is another Stream of ethereal Matter that flows from the Heavens, and
recruits the _Central Fire_ with continual Supplies; this may be
encreas’d and strengthened, and its Effects convey’d throughout the
whole Body of the Earth.

But if an Augmentation is to be made of terrestrial Fire, or of such
terrestrial Principles as contain it most, as Sulphur, Oyl, and such
like, I am apt to believe, these will encrease of their own accord, upon
a general Drought and Desiccation of the Earth. For I am far from the
Opinion of some Chymists, that think these Principles immutable, and
incapable of Diminution or Augmentation. I willingly admit that all such
Particles may be broken and disfigur’d, and thereby lose their proper
and specifick Virtue, and new ones may be generated to supply the Places
of the former: Which Supplies, or new Productions being made in a less,
or greater Measure, according to the general Dispositions of Nature;
when Nature is heightened into a kind of Fever and Ebullition of all her
Juices and Humours, as she will be at that Time, we must expect, that
more Parts than ordinary, should be made inflammable, and those that are
inflam’d should become more violent. Under these Circumstances, when all
Causes lean that Way, a little Help from a superior Power will have a
great Effect, and make a great Change in the State of the World. And as
to the Power of Angels, I am of Opinion, that it is very great as to the
Changes and Modifications of natural Bodies; that they can dissolve a
Marble as easily as we can crumble Earth and Moulds, or fix any Liquor
in a Moment, into a Substance as hard as Crystal: That they can either
make Flames more vehement and irresistible to all Sorts of Bodies; or as
harmless as lambent Fires, and as soft as Oyl. We see an Instance of
this last, in _Nebuchadnezzar’s_ fiery Furnace, _Daniel iii. 28._ where
the three Children walk’d unconcern’d in the midst of the Flames, under
the Charge and Protection of an Angel: And the same Angel, if he had
pleas’d, could have made the same Furnace seven times hotter than the
Wrath of the Tyrant had made it.

We will therefore leave it to their Ministry to manage this great
Furnace, when the Heavens and the Earth are on Fire: To conserve,
increase, direct, or temper the Flames, according to Instructions given
them, as they are to be _tutelary_ or _destroying_. Neither let any Body
think it a Diminution of Providence, to put Things into the Hands of
Angels; ’tis the true Rule and Method of it: For to imploy an Almighty
Power where it is not necessary, is to debase it, and give it a Task fit
for lower Beings. Some think it Devotion and Piety to have recourse
immediately to the Arm of God to salve all things; this may be done
sometimes with a good Intention, but commonly with little Judgment. God
is as jealous of the Glory of his Wisdom, as of his Power; and Wisdom
consists in the Conduct and Subordination of several Causes, to bring
our Purposes to Effect; but what is dispatched by an immediate supreme
Power, leaves no room for the Exercise of Wisdom. To conclude this
Point, which I have touch’d upon more than once; We must not be partial
to any of God’s Attributes, and Providence being a Complexion of many,
Power, Wisdom, Justice, and Goodness, when we give due Place and Honour
to all these, then we must honour DIVINE PROVIDENCE.




                               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 exterior
    Frame of the Earth dissolv’d into a Deluge of Fire._


We have now taken a View of the Causes of the Conflagration, both
ordinary and extraordinary: It remains to consider the Manner of it; how
these Causes will operate, and bring to pass an Effect so great and so
prodigious. We took Notice before, that the grand Obstruction would be
from the Sea, and from the Mountains; we must therefore take these to
Task in the first Place: and if we can remove them out of our Way, or
overcome what Resistance and Opposition they are capable to make, the
rest of the Work will not be uneasy to us.

The Ocean indeed is a vast Body of Waters; and we must use all our Art
and Skill to dry it up, or consume it in a good measure, before we can
pass our Design. I remember the Advice a Philosopher gave _Amasis_ King
of _Ægypt_, when he had a Command sent him from the King of _Æthiopia_,
_that he should drink up the Sea_. _Amasis_ being very anxious and
solicitous what Answer he should make to this strange Command, the
Philosopher _Bias_ advis’d him to make this round Answer to the King,
_That he was ready to perform his Command, and to drink up the Sea,
provided he would stop the Rivers from flowing into his Cup while he was
drinking_. This Answer baffled the King, for he could not stop the
Rivers; but this we must do, or we shall never be able to drink up the
Sea, or burn up the Earth.

Neither will this be so impossible as it seems at first Sight, if we
reflect upon those Preparations we have made towards it, by a general
Drought all over the Earth. This, we suppose, will precede the
Conflagration, and by drying up the Fountains and Rivers which daily
feed the Sea, will by degrees starve that Monster, or reduce it to such
a degree of Weakness, that it shall not be able to make any great
Resistance. More than half an Ocean of Water flows into the Sea every
Day, from the Rivers of the Earth, if you take them altogether. This I
speak upon a moderate Computation. _Aristotle_ says, the Rivers carry
more Water into the Sea in the Space of a Year, than would equal in Bulk
the whole Globe of the Earth. Nay some have ventur’d to affirm this of
one single River, the _Volga_, that runs into the _Caspian_ Sea. ’Tis a
great River indeed, and hath seventy Mouths; and so it had need have, to
disgorge a Mass of Water equal to the Body of the Earth, in a Year’s
Time. But we need not take such high Measures; there are at least an
hundred great Rivers that flow into the Sea from several Parts of the
Earth, Islands and Continents, besides several thousands of lesser ones;
let us suppose these, all together, to pour as much Water into the
Sea-Channel every Day, as is equal to half the Ocean: And we shall be
easily convinc’d of the Reasonableness of this Supposition, if we do but
examine the daily Expence of one River, and by that make an Estimate of
the rest. This we find calculated to our Hands in the River _Po_, in
_Italy_; a River of much what the same Bigness with our _Thames_, and
disburthens it self into the Gulpp of _Venice_. _Baptista Riccioli_ hath
computed how much Water this River discharges in an Hour, _viz._
18000000 cubical Paces of Water, and consequently 432000000 in a Day;
which is scarce credible to those that do not distinctly compute it.
Suppose then an hundred Rivers as great as this, or greater, to fall
into the Sea from the Land; besides thousands of lesser, that pay their
Tribute at the same Time into the great Receipt of the Ocean: These all
taken together, are capable to renew the Sea twice every four and twenty
Hours. Which Suppositions being admitted, if by a great and lasting
Drought these Rivers were dried up, or the Fountains from whence they
flow, what would then become of that vast Ocean, that before was so
formidable to us?

’Tis likely, you will say, these great Rivers cannot be dried up, tho’
the little ones may; and therefore we must not suppose such an universal
Stop of Waters, or that they will all fail, by any Drought whatsoever.
But great Rivers being made up of little ones, if these fail, those must
be diminished, if not quit drain’d and exhausted. It may be, all
Fountains and Springs do not proceed from the same Causes, or the same
Original; and some are much more copious than others: For such
Differences, we will allow what is due; but still the Dryness of the Air
and of the Earth continuing, and all the Sources and Supplies of
Moisture, both from above and from below, being lessen’d, or wholly
discontinued, a general Decay of all Fountains and Rivers must
necessarily follow, and consequently of the Sea, and of its Fulness,
that depends upon them; and that’s enough for our present Purpose.

The first Step towards the Consumption of the Ocean, will be the
Diminution or Suspension of the Rivers that run into it; the next will
be an Evacuation by subterraneous Passages; and the last, by Eruptions
of Fires in the very Channel of it, and in the midst of the Waters. As
for subterraneous Evacuations, we cannot doubt but that the Sea hath
Outlets at the Bottom of it, whereby it discharges that vast Quantity of
Water that flows into it every Day; and that could not be discharg’d so
fast as it comes from the wide Mouths of the Rivers, by Percolation, or
Straining through the Sands. Seas also communicate with one another by
these internal Passages; as is manifest from those particular Seas that
have no external Outlet, or Issue, though they receive into them many
great Rivers, and sometimes the Influx of other Seas. So the _Caspian_
Sea receives not only _Volga_, which we mentioned before, but several
other Rivers, and yet hath no visible Issue for its Waters. The
_Mediterranean_ Sea, besides all the Rivers it receives, hath a Current
flowing into it, at either End, from other Seas; from the _Atlantick_
Ocean at the Streights of _Gibraltar_, and from the _Black Sea_ above
_Constantinople_; and yet there is no Passage above Ground, or visible
Derivation of the _Mediterranean_ Waters out of their Channel; which
seeing they do not overfill, nor overflow the Banks, ’tis certain they
must have some secret Conveyances into the Bowels of the Earth, or
subterraneous Communication with other Seas. Lastly, from the Whirlpools
of the Sea, that suck in Bodies that come within their Reach, it seems
plainly to appear, by that Attraction and Absorption, that there is a
Descent of Waters in those Places.

Wherefore when the Current of the Rivers into the Sea is stopp’d, or in
a great Measure diminished; the Sea continuing to empty it self by these
subterraneous Passages, and having little or none of those Supplies that
it used to have from the Land, it must needs be sensibly lessen’d and
both contract its Channel into a narrower Compass, and also have less
Depth in the Waters that remain. And in the last Place, we must expect
fiery Eruptions in several Parts of the Sea Channel, which will help to
suck up, or evaporate the remaining Waters. In the present State of
Nature there have been several Instances of such Eruptions of Fire from
the Bottom of the Sea; and in that last State of Nature, when all Things
are in a Tendency to Inflammation, and when Earthquakes and Eruptions
will be more frequent every where, we must expect them also more
frequently by Sea, as well as by Land. ’Tis true, neither Earthquakes
nor Eruptions can happen in the middle of the great Ocean, or in the
deepest Abyss, because there are no Cavities, or Mines below it, for the
Vapours and Exhalations to lodge in: But it is not so much of the
Sea-Chanel that is so deep; and in other Parts, especially in Streights,
and near Islands, such Eruptions, like Sea-Vulcano’s, have frequently
happened, and new Islands have been made by such fiery Matter thrown up
from the Bottom of the Sea. Thus, they say, those Islands in the
_Mediterranean_, call’d the _Vulcanian Islands_, had their Original,
being Matter cast up from the Bottom of the Sea, by the Force of Fire,
as new Mountains sometimes are raised upon the Earth. Another Island in
the _Archipelago_ had the same Original; whereof _Strabo_ gives an
Account, _Lib. 1._ _The Flames, he says, sprung up through the Waters
four Days together, so as the whole Sea was hot and burning; and they
rais’d by degrees, as with Engines, a Mass of Earth, which made a new
Island, twelve Furlongs in Compass._ And in the same _Archipelago_,
Flames and Smoke have several times, (particularly in the Year 1650)
risen out of the Sea, and fill’d the Air with sulphureous Scents and
Vapours. In like manner in the Island of St. _Michael_, one of the
_Tercera’s_, there have been, of later Years, such Eructations of Fire
and Flames, so strong and violent, that, at the Depth of a hundred and
sixty Fathoms, they forc’d their Way through the midst of the Waters,
from the Bottom of the Sea into the open Air, as has been related by
those that were Eyewitnesses.

In these three Ways, I conceive, the great Force of the Sea will be
broken, and the mighty Ocean reduced to a standing Pool of putrid
Waters, without Vent, and without Recruits. But there will still remain,
in the midst of the Channel, a great Mass of troubled Liquors, like
Dregs in the Bottom of the Vessel; which will not be drunk up, ’till the
Earth be all on Fire, and Torrents of melted and sulphureous Matter flow
from the Land, and mingle with this dead Sea. But let us now leave the
Sea in this humble Posture, and go on to attack the Rocks and Mountains,
which stand next in our Way.

See how scornfully they look down upon us, and bid Defiance to all the
Elements; they have born the Thunder and Lightning of Heaven, and all
the Artillery of the Skies, for innumerable Ages; and do not fear the
crackling of Thorns and of Shrubs that burn at their Feet: Let the Towns
and Cities of the Earth, say they, be laid in Ashes; let the Woods and
Forests blaze away, and the fat Soil of the Earth fry in its own Grease;
these Things will not affect us; we can stand naked in the midst of a
Sea of Fire, with our Roots as deep as the Foundations of the Earth, and
our Heads above the Clouds of the Air. Thus they proudly defy Nature;
and it must be confess’d, that these, being, as it were, the Bones of
the Earth, when the Body is burning, will be the last consum’d; and I am
apt to think, if they could keep in the same Posture they stand in now,
and preserve themselves from falling, the Fire could never get an entire
Power over them. But Mountains are generally hollow, and that makes them
subject to a double Casualty; first, of Earthquakes; secondly, of having
their Roots eaten away by Water or by Fire; but by Fire especially in
this Case; For we suppose there will be innumerable subterraneous Fires
smothering under Ground, before the general Fire breaks out; and these
by corroding the Bowels of the Earth, will make it more hollow, and more
ruinous; and when the Earth is so far dissolv’d, that the Cavities
within the Mountains are fill’d with Lakes of Fire, then the Mountains
will sink, and fall into those boiling Cauldrons, which in Time will
dissolve them, though they were as hard as Adamant.

There is another Engine that will tear the Earth with great Violence,
and rend in pieces whatsoever is above or about those Parts of it; and
that is the Element of Water, so gentle in it self when undisturb’d: But
’tis found by Experience, that when Water falls into liquid Metals, it
flies about with an incredible Impetuosity, and breaks or bears down
every Thing that would stop its Motion and Expansion. This Force I take
to come from the sudden and strong Rarefaction of its Parts, which make
a kind of Explosion, when it is sudden and vehement; and this is one of
the greatest Forces we know in Nature: Accordingly I am apt to think,
that the marvellous Force of Vulcano’s, when they throw out Lumps of
Rocks, great Fragments of the Earth, and other heavy Bodies, to such a
vast Height and Distance, that it is done by this way of Explosion: And
that Explosion made by the sudden Rarefaction of Sea Waters, that fall
into Pans or Receptacles of molten Ore and ardent Liquors, within the
Cavities of the Mountain; and thereupon follow the Noises, Roarings, and
Eruptions of those Places. ’Tis observ’d, that Vulcano’s are in
Mountains, and generally, if not always, near the Sea; and when its
Waters, by subterraneous Passages, are driven under the Mountain, either
by a particular Wind, or by a great Agitation of the Waves, they meet
there with Metals and fiery Minerals, dissolv’d; and are immediately,
according to our Supposition, rarified, and, by way of Explosion, fly
out at the Mouth or Funnel of the Mountain, bearing before them
whatsoever stands in their Way. Whether this be a true Account, or no,
of the present Vulcano’s and their Eruptions, ’tis manifest, that such
Cases as we have mention’d, will happen in the Conflagration of the
Earth, and that such Eruptions or Disruptions of the Earth will follow
thereupon: and that these will contribute very much to the sinking of
Mountains, the splitting of Rocks, and the bringing of all strong Holds
of Nature under the Power of the general Fire.

To conclude this Point: The Mountains will all be brought low, in that
State of Nature either by Earthquakes, or subterraneous Fires; _Every
Valley shall be exalted, and every Mountain and Hill shall be made low_,
_Isa. xl. 4._ Which will be literally true at the second coming of our
Saviour, as it was figuratively apply’d to his first coming, _Luke iii.
5._ Now, being once levell’d with the rest of the Earth, the Question
will only be, how they shall be dissolv’d? But there is no terrestrial
Body indissolvable to Fire, if it have a due Strength and Continuance;
and this last Fire will have both, in the highest degrees; so that it
cannot but be capable of dissolving all elementary Compositions, how
hard or solid soever they be.

’Tis true, these Mountains and Rocks, as I said before, will have the
Privilege to be the last destroy’d. These, with the deep Parts of the
Sea, and the polar Regions of the Earth, will undergo a slower Fate, and
be consum’d more leisurely. The Action of the last Fire may be
distinguish’d into two Times, or two Assaults; the first Assault will
carry off all Mankind, and all the Works of the Earth that are easily
combustible; and this will be done with a quick and sudden Motion. But
the second Assault, being employ’d about the Consumption of such Bodies,
or such Materials, as are not so easily subjected to Fire, will be of
long Continuance, and the Work of some Years. And ’tis fit it should be
so; that this flaming World may be view’d and consider’d by the
neighbouring Worlds about it, as a dreadful Spectacle, and Monument of
God’s Wrath against disloyal, and disobedient Creatures. That by this
Example, now before their Eyes, they may think of their own Fate, and
what may befal them, as well as another Planet of the same Elements and
Composition.

Thus much for the Rocks and Mountains; which, you see, according to our
Hypothesis, will be levell’d, and the whole Face of the Earth reduc’d to
Plainness and Equality; nay, which is more, melted and dissolv’d into a
Sea of liquid Fire. And because this may seem a Paradox, being more than
is usually supposed, or taken notice of, in the Doctrine of the
Conflagration, it will not be improper, in this Place, to give an
Account, wherein our Idea of the Conflagration, and its Effects, differs
from the common Opinion, and the usual Representation of it. ’Tis
commonly supposed, that the Conflagration of the World is like the
burning of a City, where the Walls and Materials of the Houses are not
melted down, but scorch’d, inflam’d, demolish’d, and made uninhabitable:
So they think in the burning of the World, such Bodies, or such Parts of
Nature, as are fit Fewel for the Fire, will be inflam’d, and, it may be,
consum’d, or reduc’d to Smoke and Ashes; but other Bodies, that are not
capable of Inflammation, will only be scorch’d and defac’d, the Beauty
and Furniture of the Earth spoil’d, and by that means, say they, it will
be laid waste and become uninhabitable. This seems to me a very short
and imperfect Idea of the Conflagration; neither agreeable to Scripture,
nor to the Deductions that may be made from Scripture. We therefore
suppose that this is but half the Work; this destroying of the outward
Garniture of the Earth, is but the first Onset, and that the
Conflagration will end in a Dissolution and Liquefaction of the Elements
and all the exterior Region of the Earth; so as to become a true Deluge
of Fire, or a Sea of Fire overspreading the whole Globe of the Earth.
This State of the Conflagration, I think, may be plainly prov’d; partly
by the Expressions of Scripture concerning it, and partly from the
_Renovation_ of the Earth that is to follow upon it. Saint _Peter_, who
is our chief Guide in the Doctrine of the Conflagration, says, _2 Pet.
iii. 10, 11._ _The Elements will be melted with fervent Heat_; besides
burning up the Works of the Earth. Then adds, _Seeing all these Things
shall be dissolv’d_, &c. These Terms of _Liquefaction_ and _Dissolution_
cannot, without Violence, be restrained to simple Devastation, and
superficial Scorching. Such Expressions carry the Work a great deal
further, even to that full Sense which we propose. Besides, the Prophets
often speak of the melting of the Earth, or of the Hills and Mountains,
at the Presence of the Lord, in the Day of his Wrath, _Isa. xxxiv. 3, 4.
& xliv. 1, 2._ _Nah. i. 5._ _Psal. xcvii. 5._ And Saint _John_ (_Apoc.
xv. 2._) tells us of a _Sea of Glass, mingled with Fire_; where the
Saints stood, singing the Song of _Moses_, and triumphing over their
Enemies, the Spiritual _Pharaoh_ and his Host, that were swallowed up in
it. The _Sea of Glass_, must be a Sea of _molten_ Glass; it must be
fluid, not solid, if a Sea; neither can a solid Substance be said to be
_mingled with Fire_, as this was. And to this answers the _Lake of Fire
and Brimstone_, which the Beast and false Prophet were thrown into
alive, _Apoc. xix. 20._ These all refer to the End of the World, and the
last Fire, and also plainly imply, or express rather, that State of
Liquefaction which we suppose and assert.

Furthermore, the _Renovation_ of the World, or the _New Heaven_ and _New
Earth_, which St. _Peter_, out of the Prophets, tells us shall spring
out of these that are burnt and dissolved, do suppose this Earth reduc’d
into a fluid Chaos, that it may lay a Foundation for a second World. If
you take such a Skeleton of an Earth, as your scorching Fire would leave
behind it; where the Flesh is torn from the Bones, and the Rocks and
Mountains stand naked, and staring upon you; the Sea, half empty, gaping
at the Sun, and the Cities all in Ruins, and in Rubbish; how would you
raise a new World from this? And a World fit to be an _Habitation for
the Righteous_? For so St. _Peter_ makes that to be, which is to succeed
after the Conflagration, _2 Pet. iii. 13._ And a World also _without a
Sea_? So St. _John_ describes the new Earth he saw, _Apoc. xxi. 1._ As
these Characters do not agree to the present Earth, so neither would
they agree to _your_ future one; for if that dead Lump could revive and
become habitable again, it would however retain all the Imperfections of
the former Earth, besides some Scars, and Deformities of its own.
Wherefore, if you would cast the Earth into a new, and better Mould, you
must first melt it down; and the last Fire, being as a _Refiner_’s Fire,
will make an Improvement in it, both as to Matter and Form. To conclude,
it must be reduc’d into a fluid Mass, in the Nature of a Chaos, as it
was at first; but this last will be a fiery Chaos, as that was watery;
and from this State it will emerge again into a Paradisaical World. But
this being the Subject of the following Book, we will discourse no more
of it in this Place.




                                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 prophetical Indications. The last
    State and Consummation of the general Fire._


Having remov’d the chief Obstructions to our Design, and shew’d a Method
for weakning the Strength of Nature, by draining the Trench, and beating
down those Bulwarks, wherein she seems to place her greatest Confidence:
We must now go to Work; making Choice of the weakest Part of Nature for
our first Attack, where the Fire may be the easiest admitted, and the
best maintain’d, and preserv’d.

And for our better Direction, it will be of Use to consider what we
noted before, _viz._ That the Conflagration is not a pure _natural
Fatality_, but a _mix’d Fatality_; or a divine Judgment supported by
natural Causes. And if we can find some Part of the Earth, or of the
Christian World, that hath more of these natural Dispositions to
Inflammation than the rest; and is also represented by Scripture as a
more peculiar Object of God’s Judgments at the coming of our Saviour, we
may justly pitch upon that Part of the World, as first to be destroy’d:
Nature and Providence conspiring to make that the first Sacrifice to
this fiery Vengeance.

Now as to natural Dispositions, in any Country or Region of the Earth,
to be set on Fire, they seem to be chiefly these two; Sulphureousness of
the Soil, and, an hollow mountainous Construction of the Ground. Where
these two Dispositions meet in the same Tract or Territory, (the one as
to the Quality of the Matter, and the other as to the Form) it stands
like a Pile of fit Materials, ready set to have the Fire put to it. And
as to divine Indications where this general Fire will begin, the
Scripture points to the Seat of Antichrist, wheresoever that is, for the
Beginning of it. The Scripture, I say, points at this two Ways: First,
In telling us that our Saviour at his coming _in Flames of Fire shall
consume the wicked One, the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, with the
Spirit of his Mouth, and shall destroy him with the Brightness of his
Presence, 2 Thess. i. 7. chap. ii. 8._ Secondly, under the Name of
_Mystical Babylon_; which is allowed by all to be the Seat of
Antichrist, and by Scripture always condemn’d to the Fire. This we find
in plain Words asserted by Saint _John_, in the xviiith _Chapter_ of his
_Revelations_ (_Verses 8, 19._) and in the xixth (_Verse 3_) under the
Name of the _Great Whore_; which is the same City, and the same Seat,
according to the Interpretation of Scripture it self, (_Ch. xvii,
xviii._) And the Prophet _Daniel_, when he had set the _Antient of Days_
upon his fiery Throne, says, _The Body of the Beast was given to the
burning Flame, Dan. vii. 9, 10, 11._ Which I take to be the same Thing
with what St. _John_ says afterwards, (_Apoc. xix. 20._) _The Beast and
the false Prophet, were cast alive into a Lake of Fire, burning with
Brimstone._ By these Places of Scripture it seems manifest, that
Antichrist, and the Seat of Antichrist will be consum’d with Fire, at
the coming of our Saviour. And ’tis very reasonable and decorous, that
the grand Traytor and Head of the Apostacy, should be made the first
Example of the divine Vengeance.

Thus much being allow’d from Scripture, let us now return to Nature
again; to seek out that Part of the Christian World, that from its own
Constitution is most subject to burning; by the Sulphureousness of its
Soil, and its fiery Mountains and Caverns. This we shall easily find to
be the _Roman Territory_, or the Country of _Italy_: Which, by all
Accounts, antient and modern, is a Store-house of Fire; as if it was
condemn’d to that Fate by God and Nature, and to be an Incendiary, as it
were, to the rest of the World. And seeing _Mystical Babylon_, the Seat
of Antichrist, is the same _Rome_, and its Territory, as it is
understood by most Interpreters of former, and latter Ages; you see both
our Lines meet in this Point; and, that there is Fairness, on both
Hands, to conclude, that at the glorious Appearance of our Saviour, the
Conflagration will begin at the City of _Rome_, and the _Roman_
Territory.

Nature hath sav’d us the Pains of kindling a Fire in those Parts of the
Earth; for, since the Memory of Man, there have always been
subterraneous Fires in _Italy_. And the _Romans_ did not preserve their
_Vestal_ Fire with more Constancy, than Nature hath done her fiery
Mountains in some Part or other of that Territory. Let us then suppose,
when the fatal Time draws near, all these burning Mountains to be fill’d
and replenish’d with fit Materials for such a Design; and when our
Saviour appears in the Clouds, with an Host of Angels, that they all
begin to play, as Fireworks, at the triumphal Entry of a Prince. Let
_Vesuvius_, _Ætna_, _Strongyle_, and all the _Vulcanian_ Islands, break
out into Flames; and by the Earthquakes, which then will rage, let us
suppose new Eruptions, or new Mountains open’d in the _Apennines_, and
near to _Rome_; and to vomit out Fire in the same Manner as the old
_Vulcano_’s. Then let the sulphureous Ground take Fire; and seeing the
Soil of that Country, in several Places, is so full of Brimstone, that
the Steams and Smoke of it visibly rise out of the Earth; we may
reasonably suppose, that it will burn openly, and be inflam’d, at that
Time. Lastly, the Lightenings of the Air, and the flaming Streams of the
melting Skies, will mingle and join with these Burnings of the Earth;
and these three Causes meeting together, as they cannot but make a
dreadful Scene, so they will easily destroy and consume whatsoever lies
within the Compass of their Fury.

Thus you may suppose the Beginning of the general Fire: And it will be
carried on by like Causes, though in lesser Degrees, in other Parts of
the Earth: But as to _Rome_, there is still, in my Opinion, a more
dreadful Fate that will attend it; namely, to absorp’d, or swallow’d up,
in a Lake of Fire and Brimstone, after the Manner of _Sodom_ and
_Gomorrah_. This, in my Judgment, will be the Fate and final Conclusion
of _Mystical Babylon_, to sink as a great Mill-stone into the Sea, and
never to appear more. Hear what the Prophet says, _A mighty Angel took
up a Stone, like a great Mill stone, and cast it into the Sea, saying,
Thus with Violence shall that great City Babylon be thrown down, and
shall be found no more at all, Apoc. xviii. 21._ Simply to be burnt,
does not at all answer to this Description of its perishing, by _sinking
like a Mill-stone into the Sea, and never appearing more_, nor of _not
having its Place ever more found_; that is, leaving no Remains or Marks
of it. A City that is only burnt, cannot be said to _fall like a
Mill-stone into the Sea_; or, that it can _never more be found_; for
after the Burning of a City, the Ruins stand, and its Place is well
known: Wherefore, in both Respects, besides this exterior Burning, there
must be an Absorption of this _Mystical Babylon_, the Seat of the Beast,
and thereupon a total Disappearance of it. This also agrees with the
Suddenness of the Judgment, which is a repeated Character of it, _Chap.
xviii. 8, 10, 17, 19._ Now what kind of Absorption this will be, into
what, and in what Manner, we may learn from what Saint _John_ says
afterwards, _Chap. xix. 20._ _The Beast and the false Prophet were cast
alive into a Lake of Fire and Brimstone._ You must not imagine, that
they were bound Hand and Foot, and so thrown headlong into this Lake;
but they were swallow’d up alive, they and theirs, as _Corah_ and his
Company; or, to use a plainer Example, after the manner of _Sodom_ and
_Gomorrah_, which perish’d by Fire, and at the same Time sunk into the
_Dead Sea_, or a Lake of Brimstone.

This was a lively Type of the Fate of _Rome_, or _Mystical Babylon: _And
’tis fit it should resemble _Sodom_, as well in its Punishment, as in
its Crimes. Neither is it a hard Thing to conceive how such an
Absorption may come to pass, that being a Thing so usual in Earthquakes,
and Earthquakes being so frequent in that Region. And lastly, That this
should be, after the Manner of _Sodom_, turn’d into a Lake of Fire, will
not be at all strange, if we consider, that there will be many
subterraneous Lakes of Fire at that Time, when the Bowels of the Earth
begin to melt, and the Mountains spew out Streams of liquid Fire. The
Ground therefore being hollow and rotten in those Parts, when it comes
to be shaken with a mighty Earthquake, the Foundations will sink, and
the whole Frame fall into an Abyss of Fire below, as a Mill-stone into
the Sea. And this will give Occasion to that Cry, _Babylon the great is
fallen, is fallen_, and shall never more be found.

This seems to be a probable Account, according to Scripture and Reason,
of the Beginning of the general Fire, and of the particular Fate of
_Rome_. But it may be propos’d here, as an Objection against this
Hypothesis, that the _Mediterranean_ Sea, lying all along the Coast of
_Italy_, must needs be a sufficient Guard to that Country against the
Invasion of Fire, or at least must needs extinguish it, before it can do
much Mischief there, or propagate itself into other Countries. I thought
we had in a good measure prevented this Objection before, by shewing how
the Ocean would be diminished before the Conflagration, and especially
the Arms and _Sinus_’s of the Ocean; and of these none would be more
subject to this Diminution, than the _Mediterranean_; for, receiving its
Supplies from the _Ocean_ and the _Black Sea_, if these came to sink in
their Channels they would not rise so high, as to be capable to flow
into the _Mediterranean_ at either End; and these Supplies being cut
off, it would soon empty itself so far, partly by Evaporation; and
partly by subterraneous Passages, as to shrink from all its Shores, and
become only a standing Pool of Water in the Middle of the Channel: Nay,
’tis possible, by Floods of Fire descending from the many Vulcano’s upon
its Shores, it might itself be converted into a Lake of Fire, and rather
help than obstruct the Progress of the Conflagration.

It may indeed be made a Question, Whether this fiery Vengeance upon the
Seat of Antichrist will not precede the general Conflagration, at some
Distance of Time, as a Fore-runner and Fore-warner to the World, that
the rest of the People may have Space to repent; and particularly the
_Jews_, being Spectators of this Tragedy, and of the miraculous
Appearance of our Saviour, may see the Hand of God in it, and be
convinc’d of the Truth and divine Authority of the Christian Religion: I
say, this Supposition would leave Room for these and some other
Prophetick Scenes, which we know not well where to place; but seeing
_The Day of the Lord_ is represented in Scripture, as one entire Thing,
without Interruption or Discontinuation, and that it is to begin with
the Destruction of Antichrist, we have Warrant enough to pursue the rest
of the Conflagration from this Beginning and Introduction.

Let us then suppose the same Preparations made in the other Parts of the
Earth to continue the Fire; for the Conflagration of the World being a
Work of Providence, we may be sure such Measures are taken, as will
effectually carry it on, when once begun. The Body of the Earth will be
loosen’d and broken by Earthquakes, the more solid Parts impregnated
with Sulphur, and the Cavities fill’d with unctuous Fumes and
Exhalations, so as the whole Mass will be but as one great Funeral-Pile,
ready built, and wanting nothing but the Hand of a destroying Angel to
give it Fire. I will not take upon me to determine which Way this
devouring Enemy would steer his Course from _Italy_, or in what Order he
will advance and enter the several Regions of our Continent; that would
be an Undertaking as uncertain as useless: But we cannot doubt of his
Success, which Way soever he goes; unless where the Channel of the Ocean
may chance to stop him: But as to that, we allow, that different
Continents may have different Fires: not propagated from one to another,
but of distinct Sources and Originals; and so likewise in remote
Islands; and therefore no long Passage, or Trajection, will be requir’d
from Shore to Shore: And even the Ocean it self will, at length, be as
fiery as any Part of the Land; but that, with its Rocks, like Death,
will be the last Thing subdued.

As to the animate World, the Fire will over-run it with a swift and
rapid Course, and all living Creatures will be suffocated, or consumed,
at the first Assault; and at the same Time all the Beauty of the Fields,
and the External Decorations of Nature will be defac’d: Then the Cities
and the Towns, and all the Works of Man’s Hands, will burn like Stubble
before the Wind. These will soon be dispatched; but the great Burthen of
the Work still remains; which is, that _Liquefaction_ we mention’d
before, or a _melting Fire_, much more strong and vehement than these
transient Blazes, which do but sweep the Surface of the Earth: This
Liquefaction, I say, we prov’d before out of Scripture, as the last
State of the fiery Deluge, _Chap. IX._ And ’tis this which, at length
will make the Sea itself a _Lake of Fire and Brimstone_; when, instead
of Rivers of Waters which used to flow into it from the Land, there come
Streams and Rivulets of sulphureous Liquors, and purulent melted Matter,
which following the Tract of their natural Gravity, will fall into this
great Drain of this Earth; upon which Mixture, the remaining Parts of
sweet Water will soon evaporate, and the Salt mingling with the Sulphur,
will make a Dead Sea, an _Asphaltites_, a Lake of _Sodom_, a Cup of the
Dregs of the Wine of the Fierceness of God’s Wrath.

We noted before two remarkable Effects of the _burning Mountains_, which
would contribute to the Conflagration of the World, and gave Instances
of both in former Eruptions of _Ætna_ and _Vesuvius_; one was, of those
Balls, or Lumps of Fire, which they throw about in the Time of their
Rage; and the other, of those Torrents of liquid Fire, which rowl down
their Sides to the next Seas or Valleys. In the first Respect, these
Mountains are as so many Batteries, planted, by Providence, in several
Parts of the Earth, to fling those fiery Bombs into such Places, or such
Cities, as are marked out for Destruction; and, in the second Respect,
they are to dry up the Waters, and the Rivers, and the Sea it self, when
they fall into its Channel, _Annal. Sic. dec. 1. l. 2. c. 4._ _T.
Fazellas_, a _Sicilian_, who writ the History of that Island, tells us
of such a River of Fire (upon an Eruption of _Ætna_) near twenty eight
Miles long, reaching from the Mountain to Port _Longina_; and might have
been much longer, if it had not been stopt by the Sea. Many such as
these, and far greater, we ought in Reason to imagine, when all the
Earth begins to melt, and to ripen towards a Dissolution: It will then
be full of these sulphureous Juices, as Grapes with Wine; and these will
be squeez’d out of the Earth into the Sea, as out of a Wine-press into
the Receiver, to fill up that Cup, as we said before, _with the Wine of
the Fierceness of God’s Wrath_.

If we may be allowed to bring prophetical Passages of Scripture to a
natural Sense, as doubtless some of those must that respect the End of
the World; these Phrases which we have now suggested, of the _Wine-press
of the Wrath of God, Apoc. xiv. 10, 19._ _Ch. xvi. 19._ _Ch. xix. 15._
_Drinking the Fierceness of his Wine, poured, without Mixture, into the
Cup of his Indignation_; with Expressions of the like Nature, that occur
sometimes in the old Prophets, but especially in the _Apocalypse_:
These, I say, might receive a full and emphatical Explication from this
State of Things which now lies before us. I would not exclude any other
Explication of less Force, as that of alluding to the _bitter Cup_, or
_mixt Potion_, that us’d to be given to Malefactors: But that, methinks,
is a low Sense, when applied to these Places in the _Apocalypse_. That
these Phrases signify God’s remarkable Judgments, all allow; and here
they plainly relate to the End of the World, to the last Plagues, and
the last of the last Plagues, _Chap. xvi. 19._ Besides, the Angel that
presided over this Judgment, is said to be an Angel that _had Power over
Fire_; and those who are to drink this Potion are said to be _tormented
with Fire and Brimstone, Chap. xiv. 10._ This presiding Angel seems to
be our Saviour himself (_Chap. xix. 15._) who, when he comes to execute
Divine Vengeance upon the Earth, gives his Orders in these Words,
_Gather the Clusters of the Vine of the Earth, for her Grapes are fully
ripe, Ch. xiv. 18, 19._ And thereupon the destroying Angel _thrust in
his Sickle into the Earth, and gather’d the Vine of the Earth, and cast
it into the great Wine-press of the Wrath of God_. And this made a
Potion _compounded of several Ingredients, but not diluted with Water_;
Τὸ κεκερασμένου ἀκράτου, (Ch. xiv. 10.) and was indeed a Potion of Fire
and Brimstone, and all burning Materials mixt together. The Similitudes
of Scripture are seldom nice and exact, but rather bold, noble and
great; and according to the Circumstances which we have observed, this
_Vineyard_ seems to be the _Earth_, and this _Vintage_ the End of the
World; the pressing of the _Grapes_ into the Cup or Vessel that receives
them, the Distillation of burning Liquors from all Parts of the Earth
into the Trough of the Sea; and that Lake of red Fire, the Blood of
those Grapes so flowing into it.

’Tis true, this Judgment of the Vintage and Wine-press, and the Effects
of it, seem to aim more especially at some particular Region of the
Earth, _Chap. xiv. 20._ And I am not against that, provided the
Substance of the Explication be still retained, and the universal Sea of
Fire be that which follows in the next Chapter, under the Name of a _Sea
of Glass, mingled with Fire_, _Ch. xvi. 2._ This, I think, expresses the
highest and complete State of the Conflagration; when the Mountains are
fled away, and not only so, but the exterior Region of the Earth quite
dissolv’d, like Wax before the Sun: The Channel of the Sea fill’d with a
Mass of fluid Fire, and the same Fire overflowing all the Globe, and
covering the whole Earth, as the Deluge, or the first Abyss. Then will
the triumphal Songs and Hallelujahs be sung for the Victories of the
Lamb over all his Enemies, and over Nature it self, _Apoc. xv. 3, 4._
_Great and marvellous are thy Works, Lord God Almighty: Just and true
are thy Ways, thou King of Saints. Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and
glorify thy Name? for thou only art holy: for all Nations shall come and
worship before thee; for thy Judgments are made manifest._




                               CHAP. XI.


    _An Account of those extraordinary Phœnomena and Wonders in Nature,
    that, according to Scripture, will precede the coming of Christ, and
    the Conflagration of the World._


If we reflect upon the History of burning Mountains, we cannot but
observe, that, before their Eruptions, there are usually some Changes in
the Earth, or in the Air, in the Sea, or in the Sun it self, as Signs
and Forerunners of the ensuing Storm. We may then easily conclude that
when the last great Storm is a coming, and all the Vulcano’s of the
Earth ready to burst, and the Frame of the World to be dissolv’d, there
will be previous Signs, in the Heavens, and on the Earth, to introduce
this tragical Fate: Nature cannot come to that Extremity, without some
Symptoms of her Illness, nor die silently without Pangs or Complaint.
But we are naturally heavy of Belief, as to Futurities, and can scarce
fancy any other Scenes, or other State of Nature, than what is present,
and continually before our Eyes: We will therefore, to cure our
Unbelief, take Scripture for our Guide, and keep within the Limits of
its Predictions.

The Scripture plainly tells us of Signs, of Prodigies, that will precede
the Coming of our Saviour, and the End of the World: both in the
Heavens, and on the Earth. The Sun, Moon, and Stars, will be disturb’d
in their Motion, or Aspect; the Earth and the Sea will roar and tremble,
and the Mountains fall at his Presence. These things both the Prophets
and Evangelists have told us; but what we do not understand, we are slow
to believe; and therefore those that cannot apprehend how such Changes
should come to pass in the natural World, chuse rather to allegorize all
these Expressions of Scripture, and to make them signify no more than
political Changes of Governments, and Empires, and the great Confusions
that will be amongst the People and Princes of the Earth, towards the
End of the World. So that _darkening of the Sun_, _shaking of the
Earth_, and such like Phrases of Scripture, according to these
Interpreters, are to be understood only in a moral Sense.

And they think they have a Warrant for this Interpretation, from the
prophetick Style of the Old Testament, where the Destruction of Cities,
and Empires, and great Princes, is often describ’d by such Figures,
taken from the natural World. So much is true indeed as to the Phrase of
the old Prophets in some Places; but I take the true Reason and Design
of that, to be a typical Adumbration of what was intended should
literally come to pass in the great and universal Destruction of the
World; whereof these partial Destructions were only Shadows and
Prefigurations. But to determine this Case, let us take the known and
approved Rule for interpreting Scripture, _Not to recede from the
literal Sense without Necessity_, or where the Nature of the Subject
will admit of a literal Interpretation. Now, as to those Cases in the
_Old Testament_, History and Matter of Fact do shew, that they did not
come to pass literally, therefore must not be so understood; but as for
those that concern the End of the World, as they cannot be determin’d in
that way, seeing they are yet _future_; so neither is there any natural
Repugnancy or Improbability that they should come literally to pass: On
the contrary, from the Intuition of that State of Nature, one would
rather conclude the Probability or Necessity of them; that there may,
and must be such Disorders in the external World, before the general
Dissolution. Besides, if we admit Prodigies in any Case, or providential
Indications of God’s Judgments to come there can be no Case suppos’d,
wherein it will be more reasonable or proper to admit them, than when
they are to be the Messengers of an universal Vengeance and Destruction.

Let us therefore consider what Signs Scripture hath taken notice of, as
destin’d to appear at that Time, to publish, as it were, and proclaim
the approaching End of the World; and how far they will admit of a
natural Explication, according to those Grounds we have already given,
in explaining the Causes and Manner of the Conflagration. These Signs
are chiefly Earthquakes, and extraordinary Commotions of the Seas. Then
the Darkness or bloody Colour of the Sun and Moon; the shaking of the
Powers of Heaven, the Fulgurations of the Air, and the falling of Stars.
As to Earthquakes, we have upon several Occasions shewn, that these will
necessarily be multiplied towards the End of the World; when, by an
Excess of Drought and Heat, Exhalations will more abound within the
Earth; and, from the same Causes, their Inflammation also will be more
frequent, than in the ordinary State of Nature. And as all Bodies, when
dried, become more porous and full of Vacuities; so the Body of the
Earth will be at that Time: And the Mines or Cavities wherein the Fumes
and Exhalations lodge, will accordingly be of greater Extent, open into
one another, and continued thro’ long Tracts and Regions; by which
means, when an Earthquake comes, as the Shock will be more strong and
violent, so it may reach to a vast Compass of Ground, and whole Islands
or Continents be shaken at once, when these Trains have taken Fire. The
Effects also of such Concussions, will not only affect Mankind, but all
the Elements, and the Inhabitants of them.

I do not wonder that frequent and great Earthquakes should be made a
Sign of an approaching Conflagration; and the highest Expressions of the
Prophets concerning the _Day of the Lord_, may be understood in a
literal Sense, if they be finally referr’d to the general Destruction of
the World, and not terminated solely upon those particular Countries or
People, to whom they are at first directed. Hear what _Ezekiel_ says
upon this Subject, _Chap. xxxviii. 19, 20, 22._ _For in my Jealousy and
in the Fire of my Wrath have I spoken; surely in that Day there shall be
a great shaking in the Land of Israel: So that the Fishes of the Sea,
and the Fowls of the Heaven, and the Beasts of the Field, and all
creeping Things that creep upon the Earth; and all the Men that are upon
the Face of the Earth, shall shake at my Presence; and the Mountains
shall be thrown down, and the steep Places shall fall, and every Wall
shall fall to the Ground.——And I will rain an overflowing Rain, and
great Hail-stones, Fire and Brimstone._ The Prophet _Isaias_, (_Chap.
xxiv. 18, 19, 20._) describes these Judgments in Terms as high, and
relating to the natural World; _The Windows from on high are open, and
the Foundations of the Earth do shake. The Earth is utterly broken down,
the Earth is clean dissolved, the Earth is moved exceedingly. The Earth
shall reel to and fro like a Drunkard, and shall be removed like a
Cottage, and the Transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it, and it
shall fall, and not rise again._

To restrain all these things to _Judea_, as their adequate and final
Object, is to force both the Words and the Sense. Here are manifest
Allusions and Footsteps of the Destruction of the World, and the
Dissolution of the Earth; partly as it was in the Deluge, and partly as
it will be in its last Ruin, torn, broken, and shatter’d. But most Men
have fallen into that Error, to fancy both the Destructions of the World
by Water and Fire, quiet, noiseless Things; executed without any Ruins
or Ruptures in Nature: That the Deluge was but a great Pool of still
Waters made by the Rains, and Inundation of the Sea; and the
Conflagration will be only a superficial Scorching of the Earth, with a
running Fire. These are false Ideas, and unsuitable to Scripture: For as
the Deluge is there represented a Disruption of the Abyss, and
consequently of the then habitable Earth; so the future Combustion of
it, according to the Representations of Scripture, is to be usher’d in
and accompanied with all sorts of violent Impressions upon Nature; and
the chief Instrument of these Violences will be Earthquakes. These will
tear the Body of the Earth, and shake its Foundations; rend the Rocks,
and pull down the tall Mountains; sometimes overturn, and sometimes
swallow up Towns and Cities; disturb and disorder the Elements, and make
a general Confusion in Nature.

Next to Earthquakes, we may consider the _Roarings of a troubled Sea_.
This is another Sign of a dying World. St. _Luke_, (_Chap. xxi. 25, 26,
27._) hath set down a great many of them together: Let us hear his
Words: _And there shall be Signs in the Sun, and in the Moon, and in the
Stars; and upon the Earth Distress of Nations, with Perplexity; 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. And then shall they see the Son of Man coming
in a Cloud, with Power and great Glory, &c._ As some would allegorize
these Signs, which we noted before; so others would confine them to the
Destruction of _Jerusalem_. But ’tis plain, by this _coming of the Son
of Man in the Clouds_, and the _Redemption of the Faithful_, (Verse 28.)
and at the same Time the _Sound of the last Trumpet_, (Matt. xxiv. 31)
which all relate to the End of the World, that something further is
intended than the Destruction of _Jerusalem_. And though there were
Prodigies at the Destruction of that City and State, yet not of this
Force, nor with these Circumstances. ’Tis true, those partial
Destructions and Calamities, as we observ’d before, of _Babylon_,
_Jerusalem_, and the _Roman_ Empire, being Types of an universal and
final Destruction of all God’s Enemies, have, in the Pictures of them,
some of the same Strokes, to shew they are all from the same Hand,
decreed by the same Wisdom, foretold by the same Spirit; and the same
Power and Providence that have already wrought the one, will also work
the other, in due Time, the former being still Pledges, as well as
Prefigurations, of the latter.

Let us then proceed in our Explication of this Sign, _the Roaring of the
Sea, and the Waves_, applying it to the End of the World. I do not look
upon this ominous Noise of the Sea, as the Effect of a Tempest, for then
it would not strike such a Terror into the Inhabitants of the Earth, nor
make them apprehensive of some great Evil coming upon the World, as this
will do; what proceeds from visible Causes, and such as may happen in a
common Course of Nature, does not so much amaze us, nor affright us:
Therefore ’tis more likely these Disturbances of the Sea proceed from
below, partly by Sympathy and Revulsions from the Land; by Earthquakes
there, and exhausting the subterraneous Cavities of Waters, which will
draw again from the Seas what Supplies they can; and partly by
Earthquakes in the very Sea it self, with Exhalations and fiery
Eruptions from the Bottom of it: Things indeed that happen at other
Times, more or less; but at this Conjuncture, all Causes conspiring,
they will break out with more Violence, and put the whole Body of the
Waters into a tumultuary Motion. I do not see any Occasion, at this
Time, for high Winds; neither can I think a superficial Agitation of the
Waves would answer this Phænomenon; but ’tis rather from Contorsions in
the Bowels of the Ocean, which make it roar, as it were, for Pain. Some
Causes impelling the Waters one Way, and some another, make intestine
Strugglings, and contrary Motions; from whence proceed unusual Noises,
and such a troubled State of the Waters, as does not only make the Sea
innavigable, but also strikes Terror into all the maritime Inhabitants,
that live within the View or Sound of it.

So much for the Earth and Sea. The Face of the Heavens also will be
changed in divers Respects; the Sun and the Moon darken’d, or of a
bloody or pale Countenance; the celestial Powers shaken, and the Stars
unsettled in their Orbs. As to the Sun and Moon, their Obscuration or
Change of Colour is no more than what happens commonly before the
Eruption of a fiery Mountain. _Dion Cassius_, you see, hath taken notice
of it in that Eruption of _Ætna_ which he describes; and others upon the
like Occasions in _Vesuvius_. And ’tis a Thing of easy Explication; for,
according as the Atmosphere is more or less clear or turbid, the
Luminaries are more or less conspicuous; and, according to the Nature of
those Fumes, or Exhalations that swim in the Air, the Face of the Sun is
discolour’d sometimes one Way, sometimes another. You see, in an
ordinary Experiment, when we look upon one another through the Fumes of
Sulphur, we appear pale like so many Ghosts; and in some foggy Days, the
Sun hangs in the Firmament as a Lump of Blood: And both the Sun and
Moon, at their Rising, when their Light comes to us through the thick
Vapours of the Earth, are red and fiery. These are not Changes wrought
in the Substance of the Luminaries, but in the Modifications of their
Light, as it flows to us: For Colours are but Light in a Sort of
Disguise; as it passes through Mediums of different Qualities, it takes
different Forms, but the Matter is still the same, and returns to its
Simplicity, when it comes again into a pure Air.

Now the Air may be changed and corrupted to a great Degree, tho’ there
appear no visible Change to our Eye. This is manifest from infectious
Airs, and the Changes of the Air before Storms and Rains, which we feel
commonly sooner than we see, and some other Creatures perceive much
sooner than we do. ’Tis no Wonder then, if, before this mighty Storm,
the Dispositions of the Air be quite alter’d; especially if we consider,
what we have so often noted before, that there will be a great Abundance
of Fumes and Exhalations, thro’ the whole Atmosphere of the Earth,
before the last Fire breaks out, whereby the Light of the Sun may be
tinctur’d in several Ways: And lastly, it may be so order’d
providentially that the Body of the Sun may contract at that Time some
Spots, or _Maculæ_, far greater than usual, and by that means be really
darkened, not to us only, but to all the neighbouring Planets: And this
will have a proportionable Effect upon the Moon too, for the Diminution
of her Light: So that upon all Suppositions, these Phænomena are very
intelligible, if not necessary Forerunners of the Conflagration.

The next Sign given us, is, that the _Powers of Heaven will be shaken_.
By the _Heavens_ in this Place is either understood the Planetary
Heavens, or that of the _fix’d Stars_; but this latter being vastly
distant from the Earth, cannot be really affected by the Conflagration;
nor the Powers of it, that is, its Motion, or the Bodies contained in
it, any ways shaken or disorder’d. But, in Appearance, these celestial
Bodies may seem to be shaken, and their Motions disorder’d; as in a
Tempest by Night, when the Ship is toss’d with contrary and uncertain
Motions, the Heavens seem to fluctuate over our Heads, and the Stars to
reel to and fro, when the Motion is only in our own Vessel: So possibly
the uncertain Motions of the Atmosphere, and sometimes of the Earth it
self, may so vary the Sight and Aspect of this starry Canopy, that it
may seem to shake and tremble.

But if we understand this of the _planetary Heavens_, they may really be
shaken; Providence either ordering some great Changes in the other
Planets, previously to the Conflagration of our Planet; as, ’tis
probable, there was a great Change in _Venus_ at the Time of our
_Deluge_: Or the great Shakings and Concussions of our Globe at that
Time, affecting some of the neighbouring Orbs, or at least that of the
Moon, may cause Anomalies and Irregularities in their Motions. But the
Sense that I should pitch upon chiefly for explaining this Phrase of
_Shaking the Powers of Heaven_, comprehends, in a good measure, both
these Heavens of the fix’d Stars and of the Planets: ’Tis that Change of
Situation in the Axis of the Earth, which we have formerly mention’d,
whereby the Stars will seem to change their Places, and the whole
Universe to take another Posture. This is sufficiently known to those
that know the different Consequences of a strait or oblique Posture of
the Earth. And as the Heavens and the Earth were, in this Sense, once
shaken, before, namely, at the Deluge, when they lost their first
Situation; so now they will be shaken again, and thereby return to the
Posture they had before that first Concussion. And this I take to be the
true literal Sense of the Prophet _Haggai_, repeated by St. _Paul_,
(_Ch. ii. 6._, and _Heb. xii. 26._) _Yet once more I shake not the Earth
only, but also Heaven._

The last Sign we shall take Notice of, is that of _falling Stars_. _And
the Stars shall fall from Heaven_, says our Saviour, _Matt. xxiv. 29._
We are sure, from the Nature of the Thing, that this cannot be
understood either of fix’d Stars, or Planets; for if either of these
should tumble from the Skies, and reach the Earth, they would break it
all in Pieces or swallow it up, as the Sea does a sinking Ship; and at
the same Time would put all the inferior Universe into Confusion. It is
necessary therefore, by these Stars, to understand either fiery Meteors
falling from the Middle Region of the Air, or Comets and Blazing Stars.
No doubt, there will be all sorts of fiery Meteors at that Time; and,
amongst others, those that are call’d _falling Stars_; which, tho’ they
are not considerable singly, yet if they were multiplied in great
Numbers, _falling_ (as the Prophet says, _Isa. xxxiv. 4._) _as Leafs
from the Vine, or Figs from the Fig-tree_, they would make an
astonishing Sight. But, I think, this Expression does chiefly refer to
Comets, which are dead Stars, and may truly be said to fall from Heaven,
when they leave their Seats above, and those æthereal Regions wherein
they were fix’d, and sink into this lower World; where they wander about
with a Blaze in their Tail, or a Flame about their Head, as if they came
on purpose to be the Messengers of some fiery Vengeance. If Numbers of
these blazing Stars should fall into our Heaven together, they would
make a dreadful and formidable Appearance; and, I am apt to think, that
Providence hath so contriv’d the Periods of their Motion, that there
will be an unusual Concourse of them at that Time, within the View of
the Earth, to be a Prelude to this last and most tragical Scene of the
sublunary World.

I do not know any more in Scripture relating to the last Fire, that,
upon the Grounds laid down in this Discourse, may not receive a
satisfactory Explication. It reaches beyond the Signs before-mention’d
to the highest Expressions of Scripture: as, _Lakes of Fire and
Brimstone_, _a molten Sea mingled with Fire_, _the Liquefaction of
Mountains_, and of the Earth it self. We need not now look upon these
Things as hyperbolical, and poetical Strains, but as barefac’d
Prophesies, and Things that will literally come to pass as they are
predicted. One thing more will be expected in a just Hypothesis, or
Theory of the Conflagration; namely, that it should answer, not only all
the Conditions and Characters belonging to the last Fire, but should
also make Way, and lay the Foundation of another World to succeed this,
or of _new Heavens_ and a _new Earth_: For St. _Peter_ hath taught this
Doctrine of the _Renovation_ of the World, as positively and expresly as
that of its _Conflagration_; and therefore they that so explain the
Destruction of the present World, as to leave it afterwards in an
eternal Rubbish, without any Hopes of Restoration, do not answer the
Christian Doctrine concerning it. But as to our Hypothesis, we are
willing to stand this farther Trial, and be accountable for the
Consequences of the Conflagration, as well as the Antecedents and Manner
of it. And we have accordingly, in the following Book, from the Ashes of
this, raised a New Earth, which we leave to the Enjoyment of the
Readers. In the mean time, to close our Discourse, we will bid farewell
to the present World, in a short Review of its last Flames.




                               CHAP. XII.


    _An imperfect Description of the Coming of our Saviour; and of the
    World on Fire._


Certainly there is nothing in the whole Course of Nature, or of Human
Affairs, so great and so extraordinary, as the two last Scenes of them,
THE COMING OF OUR SAVIOUR, and the BURNING OF THE WORLD. If we could
draw in our Minds the Pictures of these, in true and lively Colours, we
should scarce be able to attend to any thing else, or ever divert our
Imagination from these two Objects: For what can more affect us, than
the greatest Glory that ever was visible upon Earth, and at the same
Time the greatest Terror; a God descending at the Head of an Army of
Angels, and a burning World under his Feet?

These Things are truly above Expression; and not only so, but so
different and remote from our ordinary Thoughts and Conceptions, that he
that comes nearest to a true Description of them, shall be look’d upon
as the most extravagant. ’Tis our Unhappiness to be so much used to
little trifling Things in this Life, that when any Thing great is
represented to us, it appears fantastical, an Idea made by some
contemplative or melancholy Person: I will not venture therefrom,
without premising Grounds out of Scripture, to say any thing concerning
this glorious Appearance. As to the Burning of the World, I think we
have already laid a Foundation sufficient to support the highest
Description that can be made of it; but the Coming of our Saviour being
wholly out of the way of natural Causes, it is reasonable we should take
all Directions we can from Scripture, that we may give a more fitting
and just Account of that sacred Pomp.

I need not mention those Places of Scripture that prove the second
Coming of our Saviour in general, or his Return again to the Earth at
the End of the World, (_Matt. xxiv. 30, 31._ _Acts i. 11._ and _iii. 20,
21._ _Apoc. i. 7._ _Heb. ix. 28._) No Christian can doubt of this, ’tis
so often repeated in those sacred Writings; but the Manner and
Circumstances of this Coming, or of this Appearance, are the Things we
now enquire into. And, in the first Place, we may observe, that the
Scripture tells us, our Saviour will come in _flaming_ Fire, and with an
_Host of mighty Angels_; so says St. _Paul_ to the _Thessalonians_, _The
Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven with mighty Angels, in flaming
Fire, taking Vengeance on them that know not God, and obey not the
Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ_. In the second Place, our Saviour says
himself, (_Mat. xvi. 27._) _The Son of Man shall come in the Glory of
his Father, with his Angels._ From which two Places we may learn; First,
that the Appearance of our Saviour will be with Flames of Fire.
Secondly, with an Host of Angels. Thirdly, in the Glory of his Father:
By which Glory of the Father, I think, is understood that Throne of
Glory represented by _Daniel_ for the _Antient of Days_. For our Saviour
speaks here to the _Jews_, and probably in a Way intelligible to them;
and the Glory of the Father, which they were most likely to understand,
would be either the Glory wherein God appeared at Mount _Sinai_, upon
the giving of the Law, whereof the Apostle speaks largely to the
_Hebrews_; or that which _Daniel_ represents Him in at the Day of
Judgment, (_Chap. xii. 18, 19, 20, 21._) And this latter being more
proper to the Subject of our Saviour’s Discourse, ’tis more likely this
Expression refers to it. Give me leave therefore to set down that
Description of the Glory of the Father upon his Throne, from the Prophet
_Daniel_, ch. vii. 9. _And I beheld ’till the Thrones were set,—and the
Antient of Days did sit, whose Garment was white as Snow, and the Hair
of his Head like the pure Wooll: His Throne was like the fiery Flame,
and his Wheels as burning Fire. A fiery Stream issued and came forth
from before him, thousand thousands ministred unto him, and ten thousand
times ten thousand stood before Him_. With this Throne of the Glory of
the Father, let us, if you please, compare the Throne of the Son of God,
as it was seen by St. _John_ in the _Apocalypse, Chap. iv. 2, &c. And
immediately I was in the Spirit: and behold a Throne was set in Heaven,
and one sat on the Throne. And he that sat, was to look upon like a
Jasper, and a Sardine Stone: And there was a Rainbow round about the
Throne, in Appearance like unto an Emerald. And out of the Throne
proceeded Lightnings, and Thunderings, and Voices, &c. and before the
Throne was a Sea of Glass like unto Crystal._

In these Representations you have some Beams of the Glory of the Father,
and of the Son; which may be partly a Direction to us, in conceiving the
Lustre of our Saviour’s Appearance. Let us further observe, if you
please, how external Nature will be affected at the Sight of God, or of
this approaching Glory. The Scripture often takes Notice of this, and in
Terms very high and eloquent. The _Psalmist_ seems to have lov’d that
Subject above others; to set out the Greatness of the Day of the Lord,
and the Consternation of all Nature, at that Time. He throws about his
Thunder and Lightning, makes the Hills to melt like Wax, at the Presence
of the Lord, and the very Foundations of the Earth to tremble, as you
may see in the xviiith _Psalm_, and the xcviith, and the civth, and
several others which are too long to be here inserted. So the Prophet
_Habakkuk_, in his prophetick Prayer, _Chap. iii._ hath many
Ejaculations to the like Purpose. And the Prophet _Nahum says, The
Mountains quake at him, and the Hills melt, and the Earth is burnt at
his Presence: yea, the World, and all that dwell therein._

But more particularly, as to the Face of Nature, just before the coming
of our Saviour, that may be best collected from the Signs of his coming,
mention’d in the precedent Chapter. Those all meeting together, help to
prepare and make ready a Theatre, fit for an angry God to come down
upon. The Countenance of the Heavens will be dark and gloomy; and a Veil
drawn over the Face of the Sun. The Earth in a Disposition every where
to break into open Flames. The Tops of the Mountains smoaking; the
Rivers dry, Earthquakes in several Places; the Sea sunk and retir’d into
its deepest Channel, and roaring, as against some mighty Storm. These
Things will make the Day dead and melancholy; but the Night-Scenes will
have more of Horror in them, when the _blazing Stars_ appear, like so
many Furies, with their lighted Torches, threatning to set all on Fire.
For I do not doubt but the Comets will bear a Part in this Tragedy, and
have something extraordinary in them, at that Time; either as to Number,
or Bigness, or Nearness to the Earth. Besides, the Air will be full of
flaming Meteors, of unusual Forms and Magnitudes; Balls of Fire rowling
in the Sky, and pointed Lightnings darted against the Earth; mix’d with
Claps of Thunder, and unusual Noises from the Clouds. The Moon and the
Stars will be confus’d and irregular, both in their Light and Motions;
as if the whole Frame of the Heavens was out of Order, and all the Laws
of Nature were broken or expir’d.

When all Things are in this languishing or dying Posture, and the
Inhabitants of the Earth under the Fears of their last End; the Heavens
will open on a sudden, and the Glory of God will appear. A Glory
surpassing the Sun in its greatest Radiancy; which, tho’ we cannot
describe, we may suppose it will bear some Resemblance, or Proportion,
with those Representations that are made in Scripture, of _God upon his
Throne_. This Wonder in the Heavens, whatsoever its Form may be, will
presently attract the Eyes of all the Christian World. Nothing can more
affect them than an Object so unusual, and so illustrious; and, that
(probably) brings along with it their last Destiny, and will put a
Period to all human Affairs.

Some of the Antients have thought, that this coming of our Saviour would
be in the dead of the Night, and his first glorious Appearance in the
midst of Darkness, _2 Pet. iii. 10._ God is often describ’d in Scripture
as Light, or Fire, with Darkness round about him. _He bowed the Heavens,
and came down; and Darkness was under his Feet. He made Darkness his
secret Place, Psal. xviii. 9, 11, 12. His Pavilion round about him were
dark Waters, and thick Clouds of the Skies. At the Brightness that was
before him, the thick Clouds passed, Psal. xcvii._ And when God appeared
upon Mount _Sinai_, the _Mountain burnt with Fire unto the midst of
Heaven, with Darkness, Clouds and thick Darkness, Deut. iv. 11._ Or, as
the Apostle expresses it, with _Blackness_, and _Darkness_, and
_Tempest, Heb. xii. 18._ Light is never more glorious than when
surrounded with Darkness; and, it may be, the Sun, at that Time, will be
so obscure, as to make little Distinction of Day and Night. But however,
this Divine Light over-bears, and distinguishes itself from common
Light, tho’ it be at Mid-day. ’Twas about Noon that the Light shin’d
from Heaven, and surrounded St. _Paul_, _Acts xxii. 6._ And ’twas in the
Day-time that St. _Stephen_ saw the _Heavens opened; Acts vii. 55, 56.
Saw the Glory of God, and Jesus standing at the Right Hand of God_. This
Light, which flows from a more vital Source, be it Day or Night, will
always be predominant.

That Appearance of God upon Mount _Sinai_, which we mention’d, if we
reflect upon it, will help us a little to form an Idea of this last
Appearance. When God had declar’d, that he would come down in the Sight
of the People, the Text says, _There were Thunders and Lightnings, and a
thick Cloud upon the Mount, and the Voice of the Trumpet exceeding loud;
so that all the People that was in the Camp trembled. And Mount Sinai
was altogether on a Smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in Fire.
And the Smoke thereof ascended as the Smoke of a Furnace, and the whole
Mount quaked greatly._ If we look upon this Mount as an Epitome of the
Earth, this Appearance gives us an imperfect Resemblance of that which
is to come. Here are the several Parts, or main Strokes of it; first,
the Heavens and the Earth in Smoke and Fire; then the Appearance of a
Divine Glory, and the Sound of a Trumpet in the Presence of Angels. But
as the second Coming of our Saviour, is a Triumph over his Enemies, and
an Entrance into his Kingdom, and is acted upon the Theatre of the whole
Earth; so we are to suppose, in proportion, all the Parts and
Circumstances of it, more great and magnificent.

When, therefore, this mighty God returns again to that Earth, where he
had once been ill treated, not Mount _Sinai_ only, but all the Mountains
of the Earth, and all the Inhabitants of the World, will tremble at his
Presence. At the the opening of the Heavens, the Brightness of his
Person will scatter the dark Clouds, and shoot Streams of Light
throughout all the Air. But that first Appearance, being far from the
Earth, will seem to be only a great Mass of Light, without any distinct
Form; till, by nearer Approaches, this bright Body shews it self to be
an Army of Angels, with this King of Kings for their Leader. Then you
may imagine how guilty Mankind will tremble and be astonished; and while
they are gazing at this heavenly Host, the Voice of the _Archangel is
heard_, the shrill Sound of the Trumpet reaches their Ears, and this
gives the general Alarum to all the World: _For he cometh, for he
cometh, they cry, to judge the Earth_. The crucify’d God is return’d in
Glory, to take Vengeance upon his Enemies: Not only upon those that
pierced his sacred Body, with Nails, and with a Spear, as _Jerusalem_;
but those that also pierce him every Day by their Profaneness, and hard
Speeches, concerning his Person, and his Religion. Now they see that
God, whom they have mock’d, or blasphem’d, laugh’d at his Meanness, or
at his vain Threats; they see Him, and are confounded with Shame and
Fear; and in the Bitterness of their Anguish and Despair, call for the
Mountains to fall upon them, _Isa. ii. 29._ _Fly into the Clefts of the
Rocks, and into the Caves of the Earth, for fear of the Lord, Rev. vi.
16, 17. and the Glory of His Majesty, when he ariseth to shake terribly
the Earth_.

As it is not possible for us to express, or conceive the Dread, and
Majesty of this Appearance; so neither can we, on the other Hand,
express the Passions and Consternation of the People that behold it.
These Things exceed the Measures of Human Affairs, and of Human
Thoughts; we have neither Words, nor Comparisons, to make them known by.
The greatest Pomp and Magnificence of the Emperors of the _East_, in
their Armies, in their Triumphs, in their Inaugurations, is but like the
Sport and Entertainment of Children, if compar’d with this Solemnity.
When God condescends to an external Glory, with a visible Train and
Equipage; when, from all the Provinces of his vast and boundless Empire,
he summons his Nobles, as I may so say, the several Orders of Angels,
and Archangels, to attend his Person; tho’ we cannot tell the Form or
Manner of this Appearance, we know there is nothing in our Experience,
or in the whole History of this World, that can be a just Representation
of the least Part of it. No Armies so numerous as the Host of Heaven;
and in the midst of those bright Legions, in a flaming Chariot, will sit
the Son of Man, when he comes to be glorified in his Saints, and triumph
over his Enemies: And instead of the wild Noises of the Rabble, which
makes a great Part of our Worldly State, this blessed Company will
breathe their _Hallelujahs_ into the open Air, and repeated Acclamations
of _Salvation to God, which sits upon the Throne, and to the Lamb, Apoc.
vii. 10. Now is come Salvation and Strength, and the Kingdom of our God,
and the Power of his Christ, ch. xii. 10._

But I leave the rest to our silent Devotion and Admiration. Only give me
leave, whilst this Object is before our Eyes, to make a short Reflection
upon the wonderful History of our Saviour; and the different States
which that sacred Person, within the Compass of our Knowledge, hath
undergone. We now see him coming in the Clouds, in Glory and Triumph,
surrounded with innumerable Angels: This is the same Person, who, so
many Hundred Years ago, enter’d _Jerusalem_, with another sort of
Equipage, mounted upon an Ass’s Colt, while the little People, and the
Multitude cry’d, _Hosanna to the Son of David_. Nay, this is the same
Person, that, at his first Coming into this World, was laid in a Manger,
instead of a Cradle; a naked Babe dropt in a Crib at _Bethlehem_ (_Luke
ii. 12._) his poor Mother not having wherewithal to get her a better
Lodging, when she was to be delivered of this sacred Burthen. This
helpless Infant, that often wanted a little Milk to refresh it, and
support its Weakness; that hath often cry’d for the Breast with Hunger
and Tears, now appears to be the Lord of Heaven and Earth. If this
Divine Person had fallen from the Clouds in a Mortal Body, cloath’d with
Flesh and Blood, and spent his Life here amongst Sinners, that alone had
been an infinite Condescension: But, as if it had not been enough to
take upon him human Nature, he was content, for many Months, to live the
Life of an Animal, or of a Plant, in the dark Cell of a Woman’s Womb.
_This is the Lord’s Doing, it is marvellous in our Eyes!_

Neither is this all that is wonderful in the Story of our Saviour. If
the Manner of his Death, be compar’d with his present Glory, we shall
think either the one or the other incredible. Look up first into the
Heavens; see how they bow under him, and receive a new Light from the
Glory of his Presence; then look down upon the Earth, and see a naked
Body, hanging upon a cursed Tree in _Golgotha_, crucified between two
Thieves, wounded, spit upon, mock’d, abus’d. Is it possible to believe,
that one, and the same Person can act or suffer such different Parts?
That he that is now Lord and Master of all Nature, not only of Death and
Hell, and the Powers of Darkness, but of all Principalities in heavenly
Places, is the same Infant _Jesus_, the same crucified _Jesus_, of whose
Life and Death the Christian Records give us an Account? The History of
this Person is the Wonder of this World; and not of this World only, but
of the Angels above, that _desire to look into it_ (1 Pet. i. 11, 12.)

Let us now return to our Subject. We left the Earth in a languishing
Condition, ready to be made a Burnt Offering, to appease the Wrath of
its offended Lord. When _Sodom_ was to be destroy’d (_Gen._ xviii.)
_Abraham_ interceded with God, that he would spare it for the Righteous
Sake; and _David_ (2 _Sam._ xxiv. 17.) interceded to save his guiltless
People, from God’s Judgments, and the destroying Angel: But here is no
Intercessor for Mankind in this last Extremity; none to interpose, where
the Mediator of our Peace, is the Party offended. Shall then, _the
Righteous perish with the Wicked? Shall not the Judge of all the Earth
do right?_ Or, if the Righteous be translated and deliver’d from this
Fire, what shall become of innocent Children and Infants? Must these all
be given up to the merciless Flames, as a Sacrifice to _Moloch_? And
their tender Flesh, like burnt Incense, send up Fumes to feed the
Nostrils of Evil Spirits? Can the God of _Israel_ smell a sweet Savour
from such Sacrifices? The greater half of Mankind is made up of Infants
and Children; and if the Wicked be destroy’d; _yet these Lambs, what
have they done?_ Are there no Bowels of Compassion for such an harmless
Multitude? But we leave them to their Guardian Angels, and to that
Providence which watches over all Things (_Mat._ xviii. 10.)

It only remains, therefore, to let fall that Fire from Heaven, which is
to consume this Holocaust. Imagine all Nature now standing in a silent
Expectation to receive its last Doom; the tutelary and destroying Angels
to have their Instructions; every Thing to be ready for the fatal Hour;
and then, after a little Silence, all the Host of Heaven to raise their
Voice, and sing aloud, _LET GOD ARISE, let his Enemies be scattered: As
Smoke is driven away, so drive them away; as Wax melteth before the
Fire, so LET the Wicked perish at the Presence of God._ And upon this,
as upon a Signal given, all the sublunary World breaks into Flames, and
all the Treasuries or Fire are open’d in Heaven, and in Earth.

Thus the Conflagration begins. If one should now go about to represent
_the World on Fire_, with all the Confusions that necessarily must be in
Nature, and in Mankind upon that Occasion, it would seem to most Men a
Romantick Scene: Yet we are sure there must be such a Scene; _The
Heavens will pass away with a Noise, and the Elements will melt with
fervent Heat, and all the Works of the Earth will be burnt up_: And
these Things cannot come to pass without the greatest Disorders
imaginable, both in the Minds of Men, and in external Nature, and the
saddest Spectacles that Eye can behold. We think it a great Matter to
see a single Person burnt alive; here are Millions shrieking in the
Flames at once. ’Tis frightful to us to look upon a great City in
Flames, and to see the Distractions and Misery of the People; here is an
universal Fire through all the Cities of the Earth, and an universal
Massacre of their Inhabitants. Whatsoever the Prophets foretold of the
Desolations of _Judea_, _Jerusalem_, or _Babylon_ (_Isa. xxiv._ _Jer.
li._ _Lament._) in the highest Strains, is more than literally
accomplish’d in this last and general Calamity; and those only that are
Spectators of it, can make its History.

The Disorders in Nature, and the inanimate World, will be no less, nor
less strange and unaccountable, than those in Mankind. Every Element,
and every Region, so far as the Bounds of this Fire extend, will be in a
Tumult and a Fury, and the whole habitable World running into Confusion.
A World is sooner destroyed than made; and Nature relapses hastily into
that Chaos-State, out of which she came by slow and leisurely Motions:
As an Army advances into the Field by just and regular Marches; but when
it is broken and routed, it flies with Precipitation, and one cannot
describe its Posture. Fire is a barbarous Enemy, it gives no Mercy;
there is nothing but Fury, and Rage, and Ruin, and Destruction,
wheresoever it prevails. A Storm, or _Hurricano_, tho’ it be but the
Force of Air, makes a strange Havock where it comes; but devouring
Flames, or Exhalations set on Fire, have still a far greater Violence,
and carry more Terror along with them. Thunder and Earthquakes are the
Sons of Fire; and we know nothing in all Nature more impetuous, or more
irresistibly destructive than these two. And accordingly in this last
War of the Elements, we may be sure, they will bear their Parts, and do
great Execution in the several Regions of the World. Earthquakes and
subterraneous Eruptions will tear the Body and Bowels of the Earth; and
Thunders and convulsive Motions of the Air rend the Skies. The Waters of
the Sea will boil and struggle with Streams of Sulphur that run into
them; which will make them fume, and smoke, and roar, beyond all Storms
and Tempests; and these Noises of the Sea will be answer’d again from
the Land, by falling Rocks and Mountains. This is a small Part of the
Disorders of that Day.

But ’tis not possible, from any Station, to have a full Prospect of this
last Scene of the Earth; for ’tis a Mixture of Fire and Darkness. This
new Temple is fill’d with Smoke, while it is consecrating, and none can
enter into it. But I am apt to think, if we could look down upon this
burning World from above the Clouds, and have a full View of it, in all
its Parts, we should think it a lively Representation of _Hell_ it self.
For Fire and Darkness are the two chief Things by which that State, or
that Place, uses to be described; and they are both here mingled
together, with all other Ingredients that make that _Tophet_ that is
prepared of old, (_Isa. xxx._) Here are Lakes of Fire and Brimstone;
Rivers of melted glowing Matter; ten thousand _Vulcano’s_ vomiting
Flames all at once; thick Darkness, and Pillars of Smoke twisted about
with Wreaths of Flame, like fiery Snakes; Mountains of Earth thrown up
into the Air, and the Heavens dropping down in Lumps of Fire. These
Things will all be literally true, concerning that Day, and that State
of the Earth. And if we suppose _Beelzebub_, and his apostate Crew, in
the midst of this fiery Furnace (and I know not where they can be else;)
it will be hard to find any Part of the Universe, or any State of
Things, that answers to so many of the Properties and Characters of
_Hell_, as this which is now before us.

But if we suppose the Storm over, and that the Fire hath got an entire
Victory over all other Bodies, and subdued every Thing to itself; the
Conflagration will end in a Deluge of Fire, or in a Sea of Fire,
covering the whole Globe of the Earth: For, when the exterior Region of
the Earth is melted into a Fluor, like molten Glass, or running Metal,
it will, according to the Nature of other Fluids, fill all Vacuities and
Depressions, and fall into a regular Surface, at an equal Distance every
where, from its Center. This Sea of Fire, like the first Abyss, will
cover the Face of the whole Earth, make a kind of second Chaos, and
leave a Capacity for another World to rise from it. But that is not our
present Business. Let us only, if you please, to take Leave of this
Subject, reflect, upon this Occasion, on the Vanity and transient Glory
of all this habitable World; how, by the Force of one Element breaking
loose upon the rest, all the Varieties of Nature, all the Works of Art,
all the Labours of Men, are reduc’d to nothing; all that we admir’d and
ador’d before, as great and magnificent, is obliterated or vanish’d; and
another Form and Face of Things, plain, simple, and every where the
same, overspreads the whole Earth. Where are now the great Empires of
the World, and their great Imperial Cities? Their Pillars, Trophies, and
Monuments of Glory? Shew me where they stood, read the Inscription, tell
me the Victor’s Name. What Remains, what Impressions, what Difference or
Distinction do you see in this Mass of Fire? _Rome_ itself, _eternal
Rome_, the great City, the Empress of the World, whole Domination and
Superstition, _antient_ and _modern_, make a great Part of the History
of this Earth; what is become of her now? She laid her Foundations deep,
and her Palaces were strong and sumptuous: _She glorified herself, and
liv’d deliciously; and said in her Heart, I sit a Queen, and shall see
no Sorrow_. But her Hour is come, she is wip’d away from the Face of the
Earth, and buried in perpetual Oblivion. But ’tis not Cities only, and
Works of Mens Hands, but the everlasting Hills, the Mountains and Rocks
of the Earth, are melted as Wax before the Sun; and _their Place is no
where found_. Here stood the _Alps_, a prodigious Range of Stone, the
Load of the Earth, that covered many Countries, and reach’d their Arms
from the _Ocean_ to the _Black Sea_; this huge Mass of Stone is soften’d
and dissolv’d, as a tender Cloud, into Rain. Here stood the _African_
Mountains, and _Atlas_ with his Top above the Clouds. There was frozen
_Caucasus_, and _Taurus_, and _Imaus_, and the Mountains of _Asia_. And
yonder, towards the North, stood the _Riphæan_ Hills, cloath’d in Ice
and Snow. All these are vanish’d, dropt away as the Snow upon their
Heads, and swallow’d up in a red Sea of Fire, (_Revel. xv. 3._) _Great
and marvellous are thy Works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy
Ways, thou King of Saints._ Hallelujah.




                           _The CONCLUSION._


If the Conflagration of the World be a Reality, as, both by Scripture
and Antiquity we are assur’d it is; if we be fully persuaded and
convinc’d of this; ’Tis a Thing of that Nature, that we cannot keep it
long in our Thoughts, without making some moral Reflections upon it.
’Tis both great in itself, and of universal Concern to all Mankind. Who
can look upon such an Object, _a World in Flames_, without thinking with
himself, Whether shall I be in the midst of these Flames, or no? What is
my Security that I shall not fall under this fiery Vengeance, which is
the Wrath of an angry God? St. _Peter_, when he had delivered the
Doctrine of the Conflagration, makes this pious Reflection upon it: _2
Ep. iii. 11._ _Seeing then, that all these Things shall be dissolved,
what manner of Persons ought you to be, in all holy Conversation and
Godliness?_ The Strength of his Argument depends chiefly upon what he
had said before in _ver. 7._ where he told us, that the _present Heavens
and Earth were reserved unto Fire against the Day of Judgment, and the
Perdition of irreligious Men_. We must avoid the Crime then, if we would
escape the Punishment. But this Expression of _irreligious_ or _ungodly
Men_, is still very general. St. _Paul_, when he speaks of this fiery
Indignation, and the Persons it is to fall upon, is more distinct in
their Characters. He seems to mark out for this Destruction, three Sorts
of Men chiefly; _The Atheists, Infidels, and the Tribe of Antichrist_:
These are his Words, _2 Thess. i. 7, 8._ _When the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from Heaven, with his mighty Angels, in flaming Fire, taking
Vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ._ Then as for Antichrist and his Adherents, he says in
the 2d Chapter, and viiith Verse, _The Lord shall consume that wicked
One, with the Spirit of his Mouth, and shall destroy him with the
Brightness of his Coming_, or of his Presence. These, you see, all refer
to the same Time with St. _Peter_: Namely, to the Coming of our Saviour,
at the Conflagration; and three Sorts of Persons are characteriz’d as
his Enemies, and set out for Destruction at that Time. _First_, Those
that know not God; that is, that acknowledge not God, that will not own
the Deity. _Secondly_, Those that hearken not to the Gospel; that is,
that reject the Gospel, and Christian Religion, when they are preach’d
and made known to them: For you must not think, that it is the poor
barbarous and ignorant Heathens, that scarce ever heard of God, or the
Gospel, that are threatned with this fiery Vengeance; no, ’tis the
Heathens that live amongst Christians; those that are Infidels, as to
the Existence of God, or the Truth of Christian Religion, tho they have
had a full Manifestation of both: These are properly the Adversaries of
God and Christ. And such Adversaries, St. _Paul_ says in another Place,
_A fearful Judgment, and fiery Indignation shall devour_: (_Heb. x.
27._) Which still refers to the same Time, and the same Persons we are
speaking of. Then as to the third Sort of Men, Antichrist, and his
Followers; besides, this Text of St. _Paul_ to the _Thessalonians_, ’tis
plain to me in the _Apocalypse_, that _Mystical Babylon_ is to be
consum’d by Fire; and the _Beast_ and _False Prophet_, to be thrown into
the _Lake that burns with Fire and Brimstone_. Which Lake is no where to
be found till the Conflagration.

You see then, for whom _Tophet_ is prepar’d of Old; for Atheists,
Infidels, and Antichristian Persecutors: And they will have for their
Companions, the Devil and his Angels, the Heads of the Apostasy. These
are all in open Rebellion against God and Christ, and at Defiance, as it
were, with Heaven; excepting Antichrist, who is rather in a secret
Conspiracy, than an open Rebellion: For, under a pretended Commission
from Jesus Christ, he persecutes his Servants, dishonours his Person,
corrupts his Laws and his Government, and makes War against his Saints.
And this is a greater Affront and Provocation, if possible, than a
barefac’d Opposition would be.

There are other Men, besides these, that are unacceptable to God, all
Sorts of Sinners and wicked Persons; but they are not so properly the
Enemies of God, as these we have mentioned. An intemperate Man is an
Enemy to himself; and an unjust Man is an Enemy to his Neighbour; but
those that deny God, or Christ, or persecute their Servants, are
directly, and immediately Enemies to God: And, therefore, when the Lord
comes in Flames of Fire, to triumph over his Enemies, to take Vengeance
upon all that are Rebels or Conspirators against Him, and his Christ;
these Monsters of Men will be the first, and most exemplary Objects of
the Divine Wrath and Indignation.

To undertake to speak to these three Orders of Men, and convince them of
their Error, and the Danger of it, would be too much for the Conclusion
of a short Treatise. And as for the third Sort, the Subjects of
Antichrist, none but the Learned amongst them are allow’d to be
inquisitive, or to read such Things as condemn their Church, or the
Governors of it; therefore, I do not not expect that this _English_
Translation should fall into many of their Hands. But those of them,
that are pleas’d to look into the _Latin_, will find, in the Conclusion
of it, a full and fair Warning to come out of _Babylon_; which is there
proved to be the Church of _Rome_. Then as to those that are
Atheistically inclin’d, which I am willing to believe are not many; I
desire them to consider, how mean a Thing it is, to have Hopes only in
this Life; and how uneasy a Thing, to have nothing but Fears, as to the
Future. Those, sure, must be little, narrow Souls, that can make
themselves a Portion, and a Sufficiency, out of what they enjoy here;
that think of no more; that desire no more: For, what is this Life, but
a Circulation of little, mean Actions? We lie down and rise again; dress
and undress; feed and wax hungry; work, or play, and are weary; and then
we lie down again, and the Circle returns. We spend the Day in Trifles,
and when the Night comes, we throw our selves into the Bed of Folly,
among Dreams, and broken Thoughts, and wild Imaginations. Our Reason
lies asleep by us; and we are, for the Time, as arrant Brutes, as those
that sleep in the Stalls, or in the Field. Are not the Capacities of Man
higher than these? And ought not his Ambition and Expectations to be
greater? Let us be Adventurers for another World; ’tis, at least, a fair
and noble Chance; and there is nothing in this, worth our Thoughts, or
our Passions. If we should be disappointed, we are still no worse than
the rest of our Fellow-Mortals; and if we succeed in our Expectations,
we are eternally happy.

For my Part, I cannot be persuaded, that any Man, of atheistical
Inclinations, can have a great and generous Soul; for there is nothing
great in the World, if you take God out of it: Therefore, such a Person
can have no great Thought, can have no great Aims, or Expectations, or
Designs: For all must lie within the Compass of this Life, and of this
dull Body. Neither can he have any great Instincts or noble Passions;
for if he had, they would naturally excite in him greater Ideas, inspire
him with higher Notions, and open the Scenes of the intellectual World.
Lastly, he cannot have any great Sense of Order, Wisdom, Goodness,
Providence, or any of the divine Perfections: And these are the greatest
Things that can enter into the Thoughts of Man, and that do most enlarge
and ennoble his Mind. And therefore I say again, that he that is
naturally inclined to Atheism, being also naturally destitute of all
these, must have a little and narrow Soul.

But you’ll say, it may be, this is to expostulate, rather than to prove:
or to upbraid us with our Make and Temper, rather than to convince us of
an Error in Speculation. ’Tis an Error, it may be, in Practice, or in
Point of Prudence; but we seek Truth, whether it make for us, or against
us: Convince us therefore by just Reasoning and direct Arguments, that
there is a God, and then we’ll endeavour to correct these Defects in our
natural Complexion. You say well, and therefore I have endeavour’d to do
this before, in another Part of this Theory, in the _Second Book_, _ch.
II._ concerning the _Author of Nature_: Where you may see, that the
Powers of Nature, or of the material World, cannot answer all the
Phænomena of the Universe, which are there represented. This you may
consult at Leisure: But in the mean Time, ’tis a good Persuasive why we
should not easily give our selves up to such Inclinations or Opinions,
as have neither Generosity nor Prudence on their Side. And it cannot be
amiss, that these Persons should often take into their Thoughts this
last Scene of Things, the _Conflagration_ of the World: Seeing if there
be a God, they will certainly be found in the Number of his Enemies, and
of those that will have their Portion in the Lake that burns with Fire
and Brimstone.

The third Sort of Persons that we are to speak to, are the Incredulous,
or such as do not believe the Truth of _Christian Religion_, though they
believe there is a God. There are commonly Men of Wit and Pleasure, that
have not Patience enough to consider, cooly and in due Order, the
Grounds upon which it appears that Christian Religion is from 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 _Tiberius_, that wrought such
and such Miracles in _Judea_; taught such a Doctrine; was crucified at
_Jerusalem_; rose from the Dead the third Day, and visibly ascended into
Heaven. If these Matters of Fact be denied, then the Controversy 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 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 _Jews_, and the false Religion
of the _Gentiles_; all Idolatry and Superstition, and thereby 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 _Jerusalem_; 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 itself every Way throughout the World,
maugre all Opposition or Persecution from _Jews_ or _Heathens_. It was
not supported by any temporal Power for above three hundred Years: nor
were any Arts used, or Measures taken, according to human 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 Controversy, beyond all human
Power; and may and ought to be esteem’d 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, though he be inclined 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 ’tis either in Things practical, or in Things merely
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 used in the
Conduct of them. If these Matters of Fact, which we have alledged, 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
revealed; 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 Counsels 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 Counsels 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, summarily and incompletely 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 Disease, 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
_Jerusalem_; 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 Heaven, Matt. xxiv. 30. with Power and great Glory_; and,
_xxv. 32._ _&c._ and that will be to judge the World. _When the Son of
Man shall come in his Glory, and all the holy Angels with him, then
shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory: and before him shall be
gathered all Nations_; and he will separate the Good from the Bad; and
to the Wicked and Unbelievers he will say, _Ver. 41._ _Depart from me,
ye Cursed, into everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his
Angels._ This is the same Coming, and the same Fire, with that which we
mention’d before out of St. _Paul_, _2 Thess. i. 7, 8, 9_; as you will
plainly see, if you compare Saint _Matthew_’s Words with Saint _Paul’s_,
which are these, _When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven,
with his mighty Angels, in flaming Fire, taking Vengeance on them that
know not God, and that hearken not to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ: Who shall be punish’d with everlasting Destruction, from, or by,
the Presence of the Lord, and the Glory of his Power_. This, methinks,
should be an awakening Thought, that there is such a Threatning upon
Record (by one who never yet failed in his Word) against those that do
not believe his Testimony. Those that reject him now as a Dupe, or an
Impostor, run a Hazard of seeing him hereafter coming in the Clouds to
be their Judge. And it will be too late then to correct their Error,
when the bright Armies of Angels fill the Air, and the Earth begins to
melt at the Presence of the Lord.

Thus much concerning those three Ranks of Men, whom the Apostle Saint
_Paul_ seems to point at principally, and condemn to the Flames. But, as
I said before, the rest of Sinners, and vicious Persons, amongst the
Professors of Christianity, though they are not so directly the Enemies
of God, as these are; yet being Transgressors of his Law, they must
expect to be brought to Justice. In every well-govern’d State, not only
Traitors and Rebels that offend more immediately against the Person of
the Prince; but all others, that notoriously violate the Laws, are
brought to condign Punishment, according to the Nature and Degree of
their Crime: So in this Case, _The Fire shall try every Man’s Work, of
what Sort it is_. ’Tis therefore the Concern of every Man, to reflect
often upon that Day, and to consider what his Fate and Sentence is
likely to be, at that last Trial. The _Jews_ have a Tradition, that
_Elias_ sits in Heaven, and keeps a Register of all Mens Actions, good
or bad. He hath his Under-Secretaries for the several Nations of the
World, that take Minutes of all that passes; and so hath the History of
every Man’s Life before him, ready to be produc’d at the Day of
Judgment. I will not vouch for the literal Truth of this, but it is true
in Effect: Every Man’s Fate shall be determined that Day, according to
the History of his Life; according to the Works done in the Flesh,
whether good or bad. And, therefore, it ought to have as much Influence
upon us, as if every single Action was formally register’d in Heaven.

If Men would learn to contemn this World, it would cure a great many
Vices at once. And, methinks, St. _Peter_’s Argument, from the
approaching Dissolution of all Things, should put us out of Conceit with
such perishing Vanities. Lust and Ambition are the two reigning Vices of
great Men; and those little Fires might be soon extinguished, if they
would frequently and seriously meditate on this last and universal Fire,
which will put an End to all Passions, and all Contentions. As to
Ambition, the Heathens themselves made use of this Argument, to abate
and repress the vain Affectation of Glory and Greatness in this World. I
told you before, the Lesson that was given to _Scipio Africanus_, by his
Uncle’s Ghost, upon this Subject: And upon a like Occasion and
Consideration, _Cæsar_ hath a Lesson given him by _Lucan_, after the
Battle of _Pharsalia_; where _Pompey_ lost the Day, and _Rome_ its
Liberty. The Poet says, _Cæsar_ took Pleasure in looking upon the dead
Bodies, and would not suffer them to be buried, or, which was their
Manner of burying, to be burnt: Whereupon he speaks to him in these
Words.

            _Hos, CÆSAR, populos si nunc non usserit Ignis,
            Uret cum Terris, uret com gurgite Ponti.
            Communis mundo superest rogus, Ossibus astra
            Misturus. Quocunque Tuam Fortuna vocabit,
            Hæ quoque eunt Animæ; non altius ibis in auras,
            Non meliore loco Stygia sub nocte jacebis.
            Libera fortuna Mors est: Capit omnia Tellus
            Quæ genuit; Cœlo tegitur qui non habet urnam._

            CÆSAR,
            _If now these Bodies want their Pile and Urn,
            At last, with the whole Globe, they’re sure to burn.
            The World expects one general Fire: And Thou
            Must go, where these poor Souls are wand’ring now.
            Thou’lt reach no higher, in the ethereal Plain,
            Nor ’mongst the Shades a better Place obtain.
            Death levels all: And he that has not Room
            To make a Grave, Heaven’s Vault shall be his Tomb._

These are mortifying Thoughts to ambitious Spirits. And surely our own
Mortality, and the Mortality of the World itself, may be enough to
convince all considering Men, that _Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity
under the Sun_; any otherwise than as they relate to a better Life.

_FINIS._




                        THE THEORY OF THE EARTH.

          Containing an Account of the Original of the Earth,

                             And of all the

                            GENERAL CHANGES

               Which it hath already undergone, or is to
                     undergo, till the CONSUMMATION
                             of all Things.

                            The FOURTH BOOK,

              _Concerning the New Heavens, and New Earth,
                                  AND
              Concerning the Consummation of all Things._

                               _LONDON_:
                Printed for J. HOOKE, in _Fleet-Street_.




                         PREFACE TO THE READER.


You see it is still my Lot to travel into new Worlds, having never found
any great Satisfaction in this: As an active People leaves their
Habitations in a barren Soil, to try if they can make their Fortune
better elsewhere. I first look’d backwards, and waded through the
Deluge, into the primæval World, to see how they lived there, and how
Nature stood in that original Constitution. Now I am going forwards, to
view the new Heavens and new Earth, that will be after the
Conflagration. But, gentle Reader, let me not take you any farther, if
you be weary; I do not love a querulous Companion: Unless your Genius
therefore press you forwards, chuse rather to rest here, and be content
with that Part of the Theory which you have seen already. Is it not fair
to have followed Nature so far, as to have seen her twice in her Ruins?
Why should we still pursue her, even after Death and Dissolution, into
dark and remote Futurities? To whom therefore such Disquisitions seem
needless, or over-curious, let them rest here; and leave the Remainder
of this Work, which is a kind of PROPHECY concerning the STATE of things
after the Conflagration, to those that are of a Disposition suited to
such Studies and Enquiries.

Not that any part of this Theory requires much Learning, Art, or
Science, to be Master of it; but a Love and Thirst after Truth, Freedom
of Judgment, and a Resignation of our Understandings to clear Evidence.
Let it carry us which way it will, an honest English Reader, that looks
only at the Sense as it lies before him, and neither considers nor cares
whether it be new or old, so it be true, may be a more competent Judge
than a great Scholar full of his own Notions, and puffed up with the
Opinion of his mighty Knowledge; for such Men think they cannot in
Honour own any thing to be true, which they did not know before. To be
taught any new Knowledge, is to confess their former Ignorance; and that
lessens them in their own Opinion, and, as they think, in the Opinion of
the World, which are both uneasy Reflections to them. Neither must we
depend upon Age only for Soundness of Judgment: Men in discovering and
owning Truth seldom change their Opinions after threescore, especially
if they be leading Opinions: It is then too late, we think, to begin the
World again, and as we grow old, the Heart contracts, and cannot open
wide enough to take in a great Thought.

The Spheres of Mens Understandings are as different, as Prospects upon
the Earth: Some stand upon a Rock or a Mountain, and see far round
about; others are in an Hollow, or in a Cave, and have no Prospect at
all. Some Men consider nothing but what is present to their Senses;
others extend their Thoughts both to what is past, and what is future:
And yet the fairest Prospect in this Life is not to be compar’d to the
least we shall have in another. Our dearest Day here is misty and hazy;
we see not far, and what we do see, is in a bad Light: But when we have
got better Bodies in the first Resurrection, whereof we are going to
treat; better Senses and a better Understanding, a clearer Light and an
higher Station, our Horizon will be enlarged every Way, both as to the
natural World, and as to the intellectual.

Two of the greatest Speculations that we are capable of in this Life,
are, in my Opinion, The REVOLUTION OF WORLDS, and the REVOLUTION OF
SOULS; one for the material World, and the other for the intellectual.
Toward the former of these, our Theory is an Essay; and in this our
Planet, (which I hope to conduct into a fixed Star, before I have done
with it) we give an Instance of what may be in other Planets. ’Tis true,
we took our Rise no higher than the Chaos, because that was a known
Principle, and we were not willing to amuse the Reader with too many
strange Stories; as that, I am sure would have been thought one, TO HAVE
brought this Earth from a fixed Star, and then carried it up again into
the same Sphere; which yet, I believe, is the true Circle of natural
Providence.

As to the Revolution of Souls, the Footsteps of that Speculation are
more obscure than of the former; for though we are assur’d by Scripture,
that all good Souls will at length have cœlestial Bodies; yet, that this
is a returning to a primitive State, or to what they had at their first
Creation, that Scripture has not acquainted us with: It tells us indeed,
that Angels fell from their primitive cœlestial Glory; and consequently
we might be capable of a Lapse as well as they, if we had been in that
high Condition with them; but that we ever were there, is not declared
to us by any Revelation. Reason and Morality would indeed suggest to us,
that an innocent Soul, fresh and pure from the Hands of its Maker, could
not be immediately cast into Prison, before it had, by any Act of its
own Will, or any Use of its own Understanding, committed either Error or
Sin. I call this Body a Prison, both because it is a Confinement and
Restraint upon our best Faculties and Capacities, and is also the Seat
of Diseases and Loathsomness; and, as Prisons use to do, commonly tends
more to debauch Mens Natures, than to improve them.

But though we cannot certainly tell under what Circumstances human Souls
were plac’d at first, yet all Antiquity agrees, Oriental and Occidental,
concerning their Præ-existence in general, in Respect of these mortal
Bodies: And our Saviour never reproaches or corrects the Jews, when they
speak upon that Supposition, Luke ix. 18, 19. John ix. 2. Besides, it
seems to me beyond all Controversy, that the Soul of the Messiah did
exist before the Incarnation, and voluntarily descended from Heaven to
take upon it a mortal Body. And though it does not appear that all human
Souls were at first placed in Glory, yet, from the Example of our
Saviour, we see something greater in them; namely, a Capacity to be
united to the Godhead, John iii. 13. and vi. 38. and 62. and xvii. 5.
And what is possible to one, is possible to more. But these Thoughts are
too high for us, while we find our selves united to nothing but diseased
Bodies and Houses of Clay.

The greatest Fault we can commit, in such speculations, is to be over
positive and dogmatical: To be inquisitive into the Ways of Providence
and the Works of God, is so far from being a Fault that it is our
greatest Perfection: We cultivate the highest Principles and best
Inclinations of our Nature, while we are thus employ’d; and ’tis
Littleness or Secularity of Spirit, that is the greatest Enemy to
Contemplation. Those that would have a true Contempt of this World, must
suffer the Soul to be sometimes upon the Wing, and, to raise herself
above the Sight of this little dark Point, which we now inhabit. Give
her a large and free Prospect of the Immensity of Gods Works, and of his
inexhausted Wisdom and Goodness, if you would make her great and good;
as the warm Philosopher says,

               Give me a Soul so great, so high,
               Let her Dimensions stretch the Sky;
               That comprehends within a Thought,
               The whole Extent, ’twixt God and Nought;
               And from the World’s first Birth and Date,
               Its Life and Death can calculate,
               With all th’ Adventures that shall pass,
               To ev’ry Atom of the Mass.

               But let her be as GOOD as GREAT,
               Her highest Throne a Mercy-Seat;
               Soft and dissolving like a Cloud,
               Losing herself in doing Good;
               A Cloud that leaves its Place Above,
               Rather than dry and useless move,
               Falls in a Shower upon the Earth,
               And gives ten thousand Seeds a Birth;
               Hangs on the Flow’rs, and infant Plants,
               Sucks not their Sweets, but feeds their Wants:
               So let this mighty Mind diffuse,
               All that’s her own to others Use;
               And, free from private Ends, retain
               Nothing of SELF, but a bare Name.




                                BOOK IV.
     _Concerning the New Heavens and New Earth, AND Concerning the
                      Consummation of all Things._


                                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._


We are now so far advanc’d in the Theory of the Earth, as to have seen
the End of two Worlds; one destroy’d by Water, and another by Fire. It
remains only to consider, whether we be yet come to the final Period of
Nature; the last Scene of all Things, and consequently the utmost Bound
of our Enquires: Or, whether Providence, which is inexhausted in Wisdom
and Goodness, will raise up, from this dead Mass, new Heavens and a new
Earth; another habitable World, better and more perfect than that which
was destroyed: That, as the first World began with a Paradise, and a
State of Innocency; so the last may be a kind of Renovation of that
happy State, whose Inhabitants shall not die, but be translated to a
blessed Immortality.

I know ’tis the Opinion of some, that this World will be annihilated, or
reduc’d to nothing, at the Conflagration, and that would put an End to
all farther Enquiries. But whence do they learn this? From Scripture or
Reason, or their own Imagination? What Instance or Example can they give
us of this they call _Annihilation_? Or what Place of Scripture can they
produce, that says, the World, in the last Fire, shall be reduc’d to
nothing? If they have neither Instance nor Proof of what they affirm,
’tis an empty Imagination of their own, neither agreeable to Philosophy,
nor Divinity: Fire does not consume any Substance; it changes the Form
and Qualities of it, but the Matter remains. And if the Design had been
_Annihilation_, the employing of Fire would have been of no Use or
Effect: For Smoke and Ashes are at as great a Distance from _Nothing_,
as the Bodies themselves out of which they are made. But these Authors
seem to have but a small Tincture of Philosophy, and therefore it will
be more proper to confute their Opinion from the Words of Scripture,
which hath left us sufficient Evidence, that another World will succeed
after the Conflagration of that we now inhabit.

The Prophets, both of the Old and New Testament, have left us their
Predictions concerning _new Heavens and a new Earth_. So says the
Prophet _Isaiah_, ch. lxv. 17. _Behold I create new Heavens and a new
Earth, and the former shall not be remembered, or come into Mind_; as
not worthy our Thoughts, in comparison of those that will arise when
these pass away. So the Prophet St. _John_ in his _Apocalypse_, when he
was come to the End of this World, says, _And I saw a new Heaven and a
new Earth: For the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away,
and there was no more Sea, Apoc. xxi. 1._ Where he does not only give us
an Account of a new Heaven and a new Earth in general; but also gives a
distinctive Character of the _new Earth_, that it shall have _no Sea_.
And in the _5th Verse_, he that sate upon the Throne says, _Behold I
make all_ Things _new_: which, consider’d with the Antecedents and
Consequents, cannot be otherwise understood than of a new World.

But some Men make Evasions here, as to the Words of the Prophets, and
say, they are to be understood in a figurative and allegorical Sense;
and to be apply’d to the Times of the Gospel, either at first or towards
the latter End of the World; so as this _new Heaven and new Earth_,
signify only a great Change in the moral World. But how can that be,
seeing St. _John_ places them after the End of the World? And the
Prophet _Isaiah_ connects such Things with his new Heavens and new
Earth, as are not compatible to the present State of Nature, _ch. lxv._
However, to avoid all Shuffling and Tergiversation in this Point, let us
appeal to St. _Peter_, who uses a plain literal Style, and discourses
downright concerning the natural World. In his _2d Epist._ and _3d
Chap._ when he had foretold and explain’d the future Conflagration, he
adds, But we expect _new Heavens and a new Earth, according to his
Promises_. These Promises were made by the Prophets; and this gives us
full Authority to interpret their _new Heavens and new Earth_ to be
after the _Conflagration_. St. _Peter_, when he had describ’d the
Dissolution of the World in the last Fire, in full and emphatical Terms,
as _the passing away the Heavens with a Noise; the melting of the
Elements, and burning up all the Works of the Earth_; he subjoins,
_Nevertheless_ (notwithstanding this total Dissolution of the present
World) _we, according to his Promises, look for new Heavens and a new
Earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousness_. As if the Apostle should have
said, Notwithstanding this strange and violent Dissolution of the
present Heavens and Earth, which I have describ’d to you, we do not at
all distrust God’s Promises, concerning new Heavens and a new Earth,
that are to succeed these, and to be the Seat of the Righteous.

Here’s no room for Allegories, or allegorical Expositions, unless you
will make the Conflagration of the World an Allegory: For, as Heavens
and Earth were destroyed, so Heavens and Earth are restored; and if, in
the first Place, you understand the natural material World, you must
also understand it in the second Place; they are both Allegories, or
neither. But to make the Conflagration an Allegory, is not only to
contradict St. _Peter_, but all Antiquity, sacred or prophane. And I
desire no more Assurance, that we shall have new Heavens and a new
Earth, in a literal Sense, than we have that the present Heavens and
Earth shall be destroyed in a literal Sense, and by material Fire: Let
it therefore rest upon that Issue, as to the first Evidence and Argument
from Scripture.

Some will fancy, it may be, that we shall have new Heavens and Earth,
and yet that these shall be annihilated: They would have these first
reduc’d to nothing, and then others created, spick and span new, out of
nothing. But why so, pray, what’s the Humour of that? Lest Omnipotency
should want Employment, you would have it to do, and undo, and do again;
as if new-made Matter, like new Cloaths, or new Furniture, had a better
Gloss, and was more credible. Matter never wears; as fine Gold, melt it
down never so often, it loses nothing of its Quantity: The Substance of
the World is the same, burnt or unburnt, and is of the same Value and
Virtue, new or old; and we must not multiply the Actions of Omnipotency
without Necessity. God does not make, or unmake things, to try
Experiments: He knows beforehand the utmost Capacities of every thing,
and does no vain or superfluous Work. Such Imaginations as these,
proceed only from want of true Philosophy, or the true Knowledge of the
Nature of God and of his Works, which should always be carefully
attended to in such Speculations as concern the natural World. But to
proceed in our Subject.

If they suppose Part of the World to be annihilated, and to continue so,
they philosophize still worse and worse: How high shall the Annihilation
reach? Shall the Sun, Moon, and Stars be reduc’d to nothing? But what
have they done, that they should undergo so hard a Fate? Must they be
turn’d out of Being for our Faults? The whole material Universe will not
be annihilated at this Bout, for we are to have Bodies after the
Resurrection, and to live in Heaven. How much of the Universe then will
you leave standing? or how shall it subsist with this great _Vacuum_ in
the Heart of it? This Shell of a World is but the Fiction of an empty
Brain; for God and Nature, in their Works, never admit of such gaping
Vacuities and Emptinesses.

If we consult Scripture again, we shall find that that makes mention of
a _Restitution_ and _Reviviscency_ of all Things, at the End of the
World, or at the Coming of our Saviour. St. _Peter_, whose Doctrine we
have hitherto follow’d, in his Sermon to the _Jews_, after our Saviour’s
Ascension, tells them, that he will come again, and that there will be
then a _Restitution of all Things_, such as was promised by the
Prophets. _The Heavens_, says he, _must receive him until the Time of
Restitution of all Things; which God hath spoken by the Mouth of his
holy Prophets, since the World began, Acts iii. 21._ If we compare this
Passage of Saint _Peter’s_, with that which we alledged before, out of
his Second Epistle, it can scarce be doubted but that he refers to the
same Promises in both Places; and what he there calls a _new Heaven_,
and a _new Earth_, he calls here a _Restitution of all Things_: For the
Heavens and the Earth comprehend all, and both these are but different
Phrases for the Renovation of the World. This gives us also Light how to
understand what our Saviour calls the _Regeneration_ or _Reviviscency_,
when he shall sit upon his Throne of Glory, and will reward his
Followers an hundred-fold, for all their Losses in this World, besides
everlasting Life, as the Crown of all, _Mat. xix. 28, 29._ I know, in
our _English_ Translation, we separate _the Regeneration_ from _sitting
upon his Throne_, but without any Warrant from the Original. And seeing
our Saviour speaks here of bodily Goods, and seems to distinguish them
from _everlasting Life_, which is to be the final Reward of his
Followers; this _Regeneration_ seems to belong to his Second Coming,
when the World shall be renew’d or regenerated, and the Righteous shall
possess the Earth.

Other Places of Scripture that foretel the Fate of this material World,
represent it always as a _Change_, not as an _Annihilation_. St. _Paul_
says, _The Figure of this World passeth away, 1 Cor. vii. 31._ The Form,
Fashion, and Disposition of its Parts, but the Substance still remains:
As a Body that is melted down and dissolv’d, the Form perishes, but the
Matter is not destroyed. And the Psalmist says, the Heavens and the
Earth shall be _chang’d_, _Psal. cii. 26._ which answers to this
Transformation we speak of. The same Apostle, in the eighth Chapter to
the _Romans_, ver. 21, 22, 23, 24. shews also, that this _Change_ shall
be, and shall be for the better, and calls it a _Deliverance of the
Creation from Vanity and Corruption_, and a Participation of the
_glorious Liberty of the Children of God_; being a sort of _Redemption_,
as they have a _Redemption of their Bodies_.

But seeing the _Renovation_ of the World is a Doctrine generally
receiv’d, both by antient and modern Authors, as we shall have Occasion
to shew hereafter, we need add no more, in this Place, for Confirmation
of it. Some Men are willing to throw all Things into a State of
_Nothing_ at the Conflagration, and bury them there, that they may not
be oblig’d to give an Account of that State of things that is to succeed
it. Those who think themselves bound in Honour to know every thing in
Theology that is knowable, and find it uneasy to answer such Questions
and Speculations as would arise upon their admitting a new World, think
it more advisable to stifle it in the Birth, and so to bound all
Knowledge at the Conflagration. But surely so far as Reason or Scripture
lead us, we may and ought to follow, otherwise we should be ungrateful
to Providence, that sent us those Guides, provided we be always duly
sensible of our own Weakness: And, according to the Difficulty of the
Subject, and the Measure of Light that falls upon it, proceed with that
Modesty and Ingenuity, that becomes such fallible Enquirers after Truth,
as we are. And this Rule I desire to prescribe to my self, as in all
other Writings, so especially in this; where, though I look upon the
principal Conclusions as fully prov’d, there are several Particulars,
that are rather propos’d to Examination, than positively asserted.




                               CHAP. II.


    _The Birth of the new Heavens and the new Earth, from the second
    Chaos, or the Remains of the old World: The Form, Order, and
    Qualities of the new Earth, according to Reason and Scripture._


Having prov’d from Scripture, that we are to expect _new Heavens_, and a
_new Earth_, after the Conflagration; it would be some Pleasure and
Satisfaction to see how this new Frame will arise, and what Foundation
there is in Nature for the Accomplishment of these Promises. For, though
the Divine Power be not bound to all the Laws of Nature, but may
dispense with them when there is a Necessity; yet it is an Ease to us in
our Belief, when we see them both conspire in the same Effect. And in
order to this, we must consider in what Posture we left the demolish’d
World, what Hopes there are of a Restauration. And we are not to be
discourag’d, because we see Things at present wrapt up in a confus’d
Mass; for, according to the Methods of Nature and Providence, in that
dark Womb usually are the Seeds and Rudiments of an Embryo-World.

Neither is there, possibly, so great a Confusion, in this Mass, as we
imagine: The Heart, an interior Body of the Earth, is still entire; and
that Part of it that is consum’d by the Fire, will be divided, of its
own accord, into two Regions. What is dissolv’d and melted, being the
heaviest, will descend as low as it can, and cover and inclose the
Kernel of the Earth round about, as a molten Sea or Abyss; according as
it is explain’d and set down in the precedent Book. But what is more
light and volatile, will float in the Air; as Fumes, Smoke, Exhalations,
Vapours of Water, and whatsoever terrestrial Parts can be elevated and
supported by the Strength of Fire. These, all mingled together, of
different Sizes, Figures, and Motions, will constitute an opake Cloud,
or thick Region of Darkness round the Earth; so as the Globe of the
Earth, with its Atmosphere, after the Conflagration is finished, will
stand much-what in the Form represented in this Scheme.

[Illustration: The regions of the Earth, a series of concentric Circles,
with A. A. denoting the Lower Region.]

Now as to the lower of these two Regions, the Region of melted Matter,
A. A. we shall have little Occasion to take Notice of it; seeing it will
contribute nothing to the Formation of the new World. But the upper
Region, or all above that Orb of Fire, is the true Draught of a Chaos;
or a Mixture and Confusion of all the Elements, without Order or
Distinction. Here are Particles of Earth, and of Air, and of Water, all
promiscuously jumbled together by the Force and Agitation of the Fire.
But when that Force ceases, and every one is left to its own
Inclination, they will, according to their different degrees of Gravity,
separate and sort themselves after this manner: First, the heaviest and
grossest Parts of the Earth will subside, then the watery Parts will
follow; then a lighter sort of Earth, which will stop, and rest upon the
Surface of the Water, and compose there a thin Film or Membrane. This
Membrane or tender Orb is the first Rudiment, or Foundation of a new
habitable Earth: For, according as terrestrial Parts fall upon it, from
all the Regions and Heights of the Atmosphere, or of the Chaos, this Orb
will grow more firm, strong, and immoveable, able to support it self and
Inhabitants too. And having in it all the Principles of a fruitful Soil,
whether for the Production of Plants, or of Animals, it will want no
Property or Character of an habitable Earth. And particularly, will
become such an Earth, and of such a Form, as the first paradisaical
Earth was, which hath been fully describ’d, in the first and second
Books of this Theory.

There is no occasion of examining more accurately the Formation of this
second Earth, seeing it is so much the same with that of the first;
which, is set down fully and distinctly, in the fifth Chapter of the
first Book of this Theory. Nature here repeats the same Work, and in the
same Method; only the Materials are now a little more refin’d, and
purg’d by the Fire: They both rise out of a Chaos, and that, in effect,
the same in both Cases; for though in forming the first Earth, I
suppos’d the Chaos or confus’d Mass, to reach down to the Center, I did
that only for the Ease of our Imagination; that so the whole Mass might
appear more simple and uniform. But in reality, that Chaos had a solid
Kernel of Earth within, as this hath; and that Matter which fluctuated
above in the Regions of the Air, was the true Chaos, whose Parts, when
they came to a Separation, made the several Elements, and the Form of an
habitable Earth, betwixt the Air and Water. This Chaos, upon Separation,
will fall into the same Form and Elements; and so, in like manner,
create or constitute a second _Paradisaical_ World.

I say, a _Paradisaical_ World; for it appears plainly, that this
new-form’d Earth must agree with that primigenial Earth, in the two
principal and fundamental Properties. First, it is of an even, entire,
uniform, and regular Surface, without Mountains or Sea. Secondly, that
it hath a straight and regular Situation to the Sun, and the _Axis_ of
the _Ecliptick_. From the Manner of its Formation, it appears
manifestly, that it must be of an even and regular Surface. For the Orb
of liquid Fire, upon which the first Descent was made, being smooth and
uniform every where, the Matter that fell upon it would take the same
Form and Mould: And so the second or third Region, that were
superinduc’d, would still imitate the Fashion of the first; there being
no Cause or Occasion of any Inequality. Then as to the Situation of its
_Axis_, this Uniformity of Figure would determine the Center of its
Gravity to be exactly in the Middle, and consequently there would be no
Inclination of one Pole, more than another, to the general Center of its
Motion; but, upon a free Libration in the liquid Air, its _Axis_ would
lie parallel with the _Axis_ of the Ecliptick where it moves. But these
Things having been deduc’d more fully in the second Book about
_Paradise_ and the _primigenial Earth_, they need no further Explication
in this Place.

If Scripture had left us several distinct Characters of the _New
Heavens_, and the _New Earth_, we might, by comparing with those, have
made a full Proof of our Hypothesis. One indeed St. _John_ hath left us
in very express Terms; _There was no Sea there_, he says: His Words are
these: _And I saw a New Heaven, and a New Earth; for the first Heaven
and the first Earth were passed away; AND THERE WAS NO MORE SEA_. This
Character is very particular, and you see it exactly answers to our
Hypothesis; for in the new form’d Earth, the Sea is cover’d and
inconspicuous, being an Abyss; not a Sea; and wholly lodg’d in the Womb
of the Earth. And this one Character, being inexplicable upon any other
Supposition, and very different from the present Earth, makes it a
strong Presumption that we have hit upon the true Model of the _new
Heavens_ and _new Earth_ which St. _John_ saw.

To this Sight of the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_, St. _John_
immediately subjoins the Sight of the _new Jerusalem_, _ver._ 2. as
being contemporary, and, in some respects, the same Thing. ’Tis true,
the Characters of the _new Jerusalem_, in these two last Chapters of the
_Apocalypse_, are very hard to be understood; some of them being
incompatible to a _terrestrial_ State, and some of ’em to a _celestial_;
so as it seems to me very reasonable to suppose, that the _new
Jerusalem_, spoken of by St. _John_, is two-fold: That which he saw
himself, _ver._ 2. and that which the Angel shewed him afterwards,
_ver._ 9. For I do not see what need there was of an _Angel_, and of
_taking him up into a great and high Mountain_, only to shew him that
which he had seen before, at the Foot of the Mountain: But however that
be, we are to consider, in this Place, the terrestrial new _Jerusalem_
only, or that which is the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_. And as St.
_John_ hath joined these two together, so the Prophet _Isaiah_ hath done
the same thing before, _Chap._ lxv. 17, 18. when he had promised _new
Heavens and a new Earth_, he calls them under another Name, _Jerusalem_;
and they both use the same Character in Effect, in the Description of
their _Jerusalem_. _Ver._ 19. _Isaiah_ says, _And I will rejoice in_
Jerusalem, _and joy in my People, and the Voice of weeping shall be no
more heard in her_, _nor the Voice of crying_, _Apoc._ xxi. 3, 4. St.
_John_ says also in his _Jerusalem_, _God shall dwell with them, and
they shall be his People: And he shall wipe away all Tears from their
Eyes; and there shall be no more Death, neither Sorrow, nor Crying,
neither shall there be any more Pain._ Now in both these Prophets, when
they treat upon this Subject, we find they make frequent Allusions to
_Paradise_ and a _paradisaical_ State; so as they may be justly taken as
a Scripture Character of the _new Heavens_ and the _new Earth_. The
Prophet _Isaiah_ seems plainly to point at a _paradisaical_ State,
throughout that Chapter, by an universal Innocency, and Harmlesness of
Animals; and Peace, Plenty, Health, Longevity or Immortality of the
Inhabitants. St. _John_ also hath several Allusions to _Paradise_, in
those two Chapters where he describes the new _Jerusalem_, Ch. xxi. and
Ch. xxii. And in his Discourse to the seven Churches, in one Place (Ch.
ii. 7.) _To him that overcometh_ is promised, _to eat of the Tree of
Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God_. And in another
Place (Ch. iii. 12.) _To him that overcometh_ is promised, _to have the
Name of the new_ Jerusalem _writ upon him_. These I take to be the same
Thing, and the same Reward of Christian Victors; the _new Jerusalem_, or
the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_, and the _Paradise of God_. Now this
being the general Character of the _new Earth_, that it is
_paradisaical_; and the particular Character that it _hath no Sea_; and
both these agreeing with our Hypothesis, as apparently deducible from
those Principles, and that Manner of its Formation which we have set
down; we cannot but allow, that the Holy Scriptures, and the natural
Theory agree in their Testimony, as to the Conditions and Properties of
the _New Heavens_ and _New Earth_.

From what hath been said in this and the precedent Chapter, it will not
be hard to interpret what St. _Paul_ meant by his _habitable Earth to
come_; Τὴν οἰκουμένην τῆς μέλλουσαν; πατὴρ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, _Isai.
ix. 6._ which is to be subjected to our Saviour, and not to the Angels.
In the second Chapter to the _Hebrews_, ver. 5. he says, _For unto the
Angels hath he not put in Subjection the WORLD TO COME_; so we read it,
but, according to the strictest and plainest Translation, it should be
_the habitable Earth to come_. Now, what Earth is this, where our
Saviour is absolute Sovereign; and where the Government is neither
Human, nor Angelical, but peculiarly Theocratical? In the first Place,
this cannot be the present World, or the present Earth, because the
Apostle calls it _future_, or the _Earth to come_. Nor can it be
understood of the Days of the Gospel; seeing the Apostle acknowledges,
_ver._ 8. that this Subjection, whereof he speaks, is not yet made. And
seeing Antichrist will not finally be destroyed till the Appearance of
our Saviour, (_2 Thess. ii. 8._) nor Satan bound, while Antichrist is in
Power; during the Reign of these two (who are the Rulers of the Darkness
of the World) our Saviour cannot properly be said to begin his Reign
here, _Ephes. vi. 12._ ’Tis true, he exercises his Providence over his
Church, and secures it from being destroyed: He can, by a Power
paramount, stop the Rage either of Satan or Antichrist; _Hitherto ye
shall go, and no farther_. As sometimes when he was upon Earth, he
exerted a Divine Power, which yet did not destroy his State of
Humiliation; so he interposes now when he thinks fit, but he does not
finally take the Power out of the Hands of his Enemies, nor out of the
Hands of the Kings of the Earth. The _Kingdom is not deliver’d up to
him_, and all _Dominion and Power_; Ch. vii. 13, 25, 26. That _all
Tongues and Nations should serve him_. For St. _Paul_ can mean no less
in this Place than that Kingdom in _Daniel_, _Heb. ii. 8._ seeing he
calls it _putting all Things in Subjection under his Feet_, and says
that it is not yet done. Upon this account also, as well as others, our
Saviour might truly say to _Pilate_, _Joh. xviii. 36._ _My Kingdom is
not of this World_. And to his Disciples, _The Son of Man came not to be
ministred unto, but to minister_, _Matt. xx. 28._ When he comes to
receive his Kingdom, he comes in the Clouds of Heaven (_Dan. vii. 13,
14._) not in the Womb of a Virgin. He comes with the Equipage of a King
and Conqueror: with Thousands and Ten Thousands of Angels; not in the
Form of a Servant, or of a weak Infant, as he did at his first coming.

I allow the Phrase αἰὼν μέλλων, or in the _Hebrew_ עולם הבא, _the World
to come_, is sometimes used in a large Sense, as comprehending all the
Days of the Messiah, whether at his first or second coming, (for these
two comings are often undistinguished in Scripture) and respect the
moral World, as well as the natural. But the Word οἰχομένη, _Orbis
habitabilis_, which St. _Paul_ here uses, does primarily signify the
natural World, or the habitable Earth, in the proper use of the Word
amongst the _Greeks_, and frequently in Scripture, _Luke iv. 5._ and
_xxi. 26._ _Rom. x. 18._ _Heb. i. 6._ _Apoc. iii. 10._ Neither do we
here exclude the moral World, or the Inhabitants of the Earth, but
rather necessarily include them: Both the natural and moral _World to
come_, will be the Seat and Subject of our Saviour’s Kingdom and Empire,
in a peculiar Manner. But when you understand nothing by this Phrase but
the _present moral World_, it neither answers the proper Signification
of μέλλουσα, nor of οἰκουμένη, of the first or second Part of the
Expression; and tho’ such like Phrases may be used for the Dispensation
of the Messiah in Opposition to that of the Law, yet the height of that
Distinction or Opposition, and the fulfilling of the Expression, depends
upon the second coming of our Saviour, and upon the _future Earth_ or
habitable World, where he shall reign, and which does peculiarly belong
to him and his Saints.

Neither can this _World to come_, or this _Earth to come_, be understood
of the Kingdom of Heaven. For the _Greek_ Word will not bear that Sense,
nor is it ever us’d in Scripture for _Heaven_. Besides, the Kingdom of
Heaven, when spoken of as _future_, is not properly till the last
Resurrection and final Judgment. Whereas _this World to come_, which our
Saviour is to govern, must be therefore that Time, and will then expire.
For all his Government as to this World, expires at the Day of Judgment,
_1 Cor. xv. 24_, _&c._ and _he will then deliver up the Kingdom into the
Hands of his Father, that he may be all in all_: Having reigned first
himself, _and put down all Rule and all Authority and Power_. So that
St. _Paul_, in these two Places of his Epistles, refers plainly to the
same Time, and the same Reign of Christ; which must be in a _future
World_, and before the _last Day of Judgment_, and therefore, according,
to our Deductions, in the _new Heavens_ and the _new Earth_.




                               CHAP. III.


    _Concerning the Inhabitants of the new Earth. That natural Reason
    cannot determine this Point. That according to Scripture, the Sons
    of the first Resurrection, or the Heirs of the Millennium, are to be
    the Inhabitants of the new Earth. The Testimony of the Philosophers,
    and of the Christian Fathers, for the Renovation of the World. The
    first Proposition laid down._


Thus we have settled the true Notion, according to Reason and Scripture,
of the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_: But where are the Inhabitants,
you’ll say? You have taken the Pains to make us a new World, and now
that it is made, it must stand empty. When the first World was
destroyed, there were eight Persons preserv’d, with a Set of living
Creatures of every Kind, as a Seminary or Foundation of another World;
but the Fire, it seems, is more merciless than the Water; for in this
Destruction of the World, it does not appear that there is one living
Soul left, of any sort, upon the Face of the Earth. No Hopes of
Posterity, nor of any Continuation of Mankind, in the usual Way of
Propagation; and Fire is a barren Element, that breeds no living
Creatures in it, nor hath any Nourishment proper for their Food or
Sustenance.

We are perfectly at a Loss therefore, so far as I see, for a new Race of
Mankind, or how to People this new-form’d World. The inhabitants, if
ever there be any, must either come from Heaven, or spring from the
Earth; there are but these two Ways. But _natural Reason_ can determine
neither of these, sees no Track to follow in these unbeaten Paths, nor
can advance one Step farther. Farewell then, dear Friend; I must take
another Guide, and leave you here, as _Moses_ upon Mount _Pisgah_, only
to look into that Land, which you cannot enter. I acknowledge the good
Service you have done, and what a faithful Companion you have been, in a
long Journey; from the Beginning of the World to this Hour, in a Tract
of Time of six thousand Years. We have travelled together thro’ the dark
Regions of a first and second _Chaos_; seen the World twice shipwreck’d:
Neither Water, nor Fire, could separate us; but now you must give place
to other Guides.

Welcome, _Holy Scriptures_, the Oracles of God, a Light shining in
Darkness, a Treasury of hidden Knowledge; and where _Human 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 farther Enquiries, _The Lord God created the Heavens,
God himself that formed the Earth, he created it not in vain, he formed
it to be inhabited, Isa. xlv. 18._ 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. St.
_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 _Just_ or the _Righteous_. His Words which we
cited before, are these; when he had described 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; ’tis 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 St. _Peter_, (_1 Eph. ii. 9._)
_A chosen Generation, a royal Priesthood, an holy Nation, a peculiar
People._ As if into that World, as into St. _John’s_ _new Jerusalem,_
nothing impure or unrighteous was to be admitted, _Apoc. xxi. 27._ 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 Conflagration,
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 neigbouring 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 in
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 possessed
it; and if it be restor’d again, ’tis their Propriety and Inheritance.
But ’tis not Mankind in general that must possess this new World, but
the _Israel of God_, according to the Prophet _Isaiah_; or the _Just_,
according to St. _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 recompensed,
_Matth._ xix. 28, 29.

But they must be then raised from the Dead. For all Mankind was
destroyed at the Conflagration: and there is no Resource for them any
other way, than by a Resurrection. ’Tis true: and St. _John_ (_Apoc._
xx.) 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. _John_ tells us; and that a Thousand Years
Distance from one another: It may be very rationally be presum’d, that
those that are raised in the first Resurrection, are those _Just_ 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 _Just_ 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. _John_ 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.
_John_) _that were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus, and for the Word
of God; and which had not worshipped the Beast, &c. and they lived and
reigned with Christ a Thousand Years_, Apoc. xx. 4. These, I say, seem
to be the same Persons, to whom Christ had before promis’d and
appropriated a particular Reward. And this Reward 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 beloved City_, ver. 9. That Camp and that City
therefore were upon the Earth. And _Fire came down from Heaven, and
devoured them._ If it came down from Heaven, it came upon the Earth.
Farthermore, those Persons that are raised from the _Dead_, are said to
be _Priests of God and of Christ, and to reign with him a thousand
Years_, ver. 6. Now these must be the same Persons with the _Priests_
and _Kings_, mention’d in the fifth Chapter, ver. 10. which are there
said expressly _to reign upon Earth_, or that they should _reign upon
Earth_. It remains therefore only to determine, _what Earth_ this is,
where the _Sons of the first Resurrection_ will live and reign. It
cannot be the present Earth, in the same State, and under the same
Circumstances it is now: For what Happiness or Privilege would that be,
to be called back into a mortal Life, under the Necessities and
Inconveniencies of sickly Bodies, and an incommodious World; such as the
present State of Mortality is, and must continue to be, till some Change
be made in Nature. We may be sure therefore, that a Change will be made
in Nature, before that Time, and that the State they are rais’d into,
and the Earth they are to inhabit, will be, at least, _Paradisaical_;
and consequently can be no other than the _New Heavens_ and _New Earth_,
which we are to expect after the Conflagration.

From these Considerations, there is a great Fairness to conclude, both
as to the Characters of the Persons, and of the Place or State, that
_the Sons of the first Resurrection_ will be Inhabitants of the _New
Earth_, and reign there with Christ a Thousand Years. But seeing this is
one of the principal and peculiar Conclusions of this Discourse, and
bears a great Part in this last Book of the Theory of the Earth, it will
deserve a more full Explication, and a more ample Proof, to make it out.
We must therefore take a greater Compass in our Discourse, and give a
full Account of that State which is usually call’d the _Millennium_; the
Reign of the Saints a Thousand Years, or the Kingdom of Christ upon
Earth. But before we enter upon this new Subject, give me leave to close
our present Argument, about the _Renovation of the World_, with some
Testimonies of the antient Philosophers, to that purpose. ’Tis plain to
me, that there were among the Antients several Traditions, or
traditionary Conclusions, which they did not raise themselves, by Reason
and Observation, but received them from an unknown Antiquity. An
Instance of this is the _Conflagration of the World_; a Doctrine as
antient, for any Thing I know, as the World it self; at least as antient
as we have any Records, and yet none of those Antients that tell us of
it, give any Argument to prove it. Neither is it any Wonder, for they
did not invent it themselves, but receiv’d it from others without Proof,
by the sole Authority of Tradition. In like manner the _Renovation of
the World_, which we are now speaking of, is an antient Doctrine, both
amongst the _Greeks_ and _Eastern_ Philosophers: But they shew us no
Method _how_ the World may be _renew’d_, nor make any Proof of its
future Renovation; for it was not a Discovery which they first made, but
receiv’d it with an implicit Faith, from their Masters and Ancestors:
And these traditionary Doctrines were all Fore-runners of that Light
which was to shine more clearly at the Opening of the Christian
Dispensation; to give a more full Account of the Fate and Revolutions of
the natural World, as well as of the moral.

The _Jews_, ’tis well known, held the _Renovation_ of the World, and a
_Sabbath_ after Six Thousand Years; according to the Prophecy that was
current among them; whereof we have given a larger Account in the
precedent Book, _Chap._ v. And that future State they called עולם הבא,
_Olam Hava_, or the _World to come_, which is the very same with Saint
_Paul’s habitable Earth to come_, ἡ οἰκουμένη ἥ μέλλουσα, _Heb. ii. 6._
Neither can I easily believe, that those Constitutions of _Moses_ that
proceed so much upon a _septenary_, or the Number _seven_, and have no
Ground or Reason, in the Nature of the Thing, for that particular
Number. I cannot easily believe, I say, that they are either accidental
or humoursome, without Design or Signification; but that they are
typical, or representative of some _Septenary_ State, that does
eminently deserve and bear that Character. _Moses_, in the History of
the Creation, makes six Days Work, and then a Sabbath: Then, after six
Years, he makes a _Sabbath-Year_; and after a Sabbath of Years, a Year
of Jubilee, _Levit. xxv._ All these lesser Revolutions seem to me to
point at the grand Revolution, the great _Sabbath_ or _Jubilee_, after
six Millenaries; which, as it answers the Type in point of Time, so
likewise in the Nature and Contents of it; being a State of Rest from
all Labour, and Trouble, and Servitude; a State of Joy and Triumph, and
a State of _Renovation_, when Things are to return to their first
Condition and pristine Order. So much for the _Jews_.

The Heathen Philosophers, both _Greeks_ and _Barbarians_, had the same
Doctrine of the _Renovation_ of the _World_ current amongst them, and
that under several Names and Phrases; as of the _Great Year_, the
_Restauration_, the _Mundane Periods_, and such-like. They suppos’d
stated and fix’d Periods of Time, upon Expiration whereof there would
always follow some great Revolution of the World, and the Face of Nature
would be renewed: particularly after the Conflagration, the _Stoicks_
always suppos’d a new World to succeed, or another Frame of Nature to be
erected in the Room of that which was destroyed. And they use the same
Words and Phrases upon this Occasion that Scripture useth. _Chrysippis_
calls it _Apocatastasis_ (_Lact._ l. 7. c. 23.) as St. _Peter_ does,
_Acts_ iii. 21. _Marcus Antonius_ in his _Meditations_, several times
calls it _Palingenesia_, as our Saviour does, _Matt._ xix. 28. And
_Numenius_ hath two Scripture words, _Resurrection_ and _Restitution_,
(_Euseb. præp. Ev._ l. 7. c. 23.) to express this Renovation of the
World. Then as to the _Platonicks_, that Revolution of all Things hath
commonly been call’d the _Platonick_ Year, as if _Plato_ had been the
first Author of that Opinion; but that’s a great Mistake; he receiv’d it
from the _Barbarick_ Philosophers, and particularly from the _Ægyptian_
Priests, amongst whom he liv’d several Years, to be instructed in their
Learning. But I do not take _Plato_ neither to be the first that brought
this Doctrine into _Greece_: For, besides that the _Sibylls_, whose
Antiquity we do not well know, sung this Song of old, as we see it
copy’d from them by _Virgil_ in his fourth Eclogue; _Pythagoras_ taught
it before _Plato_, and _Orpheus_ before them both; and that’s as high as
the _Greek_ Philosophy reaches.

The _Barbarick_ Philosophers were more antient; namely, the _Ægyptians_,
_Persians_, _Chaldeans_, _Indian Brackmans_, and other Eastern Nations.
Their Monuments indeed are in a great measure lost; yet from the Remains
of them which the _Greeks_ have transcribed, and so preserv’d in their
Writings, we see plainly they all had this Doctrine of the _future
Renovation_. And to this Day the Posterity of the _Brackmans_ in the
_East-Indies_ retain the same Notion, _that_ the World will be renew’d
after the last Fire. You may see the Citations, if you please, for all
these _Notions_, in the _Latin_ Treatise, _Ch._ v. which I thought would
be too dry and tedious to be render’d into _English_.

To these Testimonies of the Philosophers of all Ages, for the future
Renovation of the World, we might add the Testimonies of the Christian
Fathers, _Greek_ and _Latin_, antient and modern. I will only give you a
bare List of them, and refer you to the _Latin_ Treatise (_Chap._ ix.)
for the Words or the Places. Amongst the _Greek_ Fathers, _Justin
Martyr_, _Irenæus_, _Origen_: The Fathers of the _Council of Nice_,
_Eusebius_; _Basil_; the two _Cyrils_, of _Jerusalem_ and _Alexandria_:
The two _Gregories_, _Nazianzen_ and _Nyssen_; St. _Chrysostom_,
_Zacharias Mitylenensis_; and of later Date, _Damascen_, _Oecumenius_,
_Euthymius_, and others. These have all set their Hands and Seals to
this Doctrine. Of the _Latin_ Fathers, _Tertullian_, _Lactantius_, St.
_Hillary_, St. _Ambrose_, St. _Austin_, St. _Jerome_; and many later
Ecclesiastical Authors. These, with the Philosophers before-mention’d, I
count good Authority, sacred and prophane; which I place here as an
Out-guard upon Scripture, where our principal Force lies. These three
united, and acting in Conjunction, will be sufficient to prove this
first Post, and to prove our first Proposition, which is this; _That
after the Conflagration of this World,_ _there will be new Heavens and a
new Earth; and that Earth will be inhabited._ (Propos. I.)




                               CHAP. IV.


    _The Proof of a_ Millennium, _or of a blessed Age to come, from
    Scripture. A View of the_ Apocalypse, _and of the Prophecies of_
    Daniel, _in reference to this Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints._


We have given fair Presumptions, if not Proofs, in the precedent
Chapter, that the Sons of the first Resurrection will be the Persons
that shall inhabit the _new Earth_, or the World to come. But to make
that Proof complete and unexceptionable, I told you, it would be
necessary to take a larger Compass in our Discourse, and to examine what
is meant by _that Reign with Christ a thousand Years_, which is promis’d
to the Sons of the _first Resurrection_, by St. _John_ in the
_Apocalypse_; and in other places of Scripture is usually call’d the
_Kingdom of Christ_, and the Reign of the Saints: And by Ecclesiastical
Authors, in Imitation of St. _John_, it is commonly styled, the
_Millennium_. We shall indifferently use any of these Words or Phrases;
and examine, first, the Truth of the Notion and Opinion, whether, in
Scripture, there be any such an happy State promised to the Saints under
the Conduct of Christ; and then we will proceed to examine the Nature,
Characters, Place and Time of it. And I am in hopes when these Things
are duly discuss’d and stated, you will be satisfied that we have found
out the true Inhabitants of the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_; and the
true Mystery of that State which is called the _Millennium_, or the
Reign of Christ and of his Saints.

We begin with St. _John_, whose Words in the xxth Chapter of the
_Apocalypse_, ver. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6. are express, both as to the first
Resurrection, and as to the Reign of those Saints that rise with Christ
for a Thousand Years; Satan in the mean Time being bound, or disabled
from doing Mischief, and seducing Mankind. The Words of the Prophet are
these; _And I saw an Angel come down from Heaven, having the Key of the
bottomless Pit, and a great Chain in his Hand. And he laid hold on the
Dragon, that old Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a
Thousand Years. And I saw Thrones, and they sat upon them, and Judgment
was given unto them; And I saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for
the Witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not
worshipped the Beast, neither his Image, neither had received his Mark
upon their Foreheads, or in their Hands; and they lived and reigned with
Christ a thousand Years. But the rest of the Dead lived not again until
the thousand Years were finished. This is the first Resurrection.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection; on such
the second Death hath no Power, but they shall be Priests of God, and of
Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand Years_. These Words do fully
express a Resurrection, and a Reign with Christ a thousand Years. As for
that particular Space of Time, of a _Thousand Years_, it is not much
material to our present Purpose: but the Resurrection here spoken of,
and the Reign with Christ, make the Substance of the Controversy, and in
effect prove all that we enquire after at present. This Resurrection,
you see, is call’d the _first Resurrection_, by way of Distinction from
the second and general Resurrection; which is to be placed a Thousand
Years after the first. And both this first Resurrection, and the Reign
of Christ, seem to be appropriated to the Martyrs in this Place: For the
Prophet says, _The Souls of those that were beheaded for the Witness of
Jesus, &c. they lived and reigned with Christ a Thousand Years_. From
which Words, if you please, we will raise this Doctrine; that _those
that have suffer’d for the Sake of Christ, and a good Conscience, shall
be raised from the Dead a Thousand Years before the general
Resurrection, and reign with Christ in an happy State_. This Proposition
seems to be plainly included in the Words of St. _John_, and to be the
intended Sense of this Vision; but you must have Patience a little as to
your Enquiry into Particulars, till, in the Progress of our Discourse,
we have brought all the Parts of this Conclusion into a fuller Light.

In the mean time there is but one Way, that I know of, to evade the
Force of these Words, and of the Conclusion drawn from them; and that
is, by supposing that the _first Resurrection_ here mention’d, is not to
be understood in a literal Sense, but is allegorical and mystical,
signifying only a Resurrection from Sin to a spiritual Life: As we are
said to be _dead in Sin_, and to be _risen with Christ_, by Faith and
Regeneration. This is a manner of Speech which St. _Paul_ does sometimes
use, as _Eph._ ii. 6. and ver. 14, and _Col._ 3. 1. But how can this be
applied to the present Case? Were the Martyrs dead in Sin? ’Tis they
that are here rais’d from the Dead: Or, after they were beheaded for the
Witness of Jesus, naturally dead and laid in their Graves, were they
then regenerate by Faith? There is no Congruity in Allegories so
apply’d. Besides, why should they be said to be regenerate a Thousand
Years before the Day of Judgment? or to reign with Christ, after this
Spiritual Resurrection, such a limited Time, a Thousand Years? Why not
so to Eternity? For in this allegorical Sense of _rising_ and
_reigning_, they will reign with him for everlasting. Then, after a
Thousand Years, must all the Wicked be regenerate, and rise into a
Spiritual Life? ’Tis said here, _the rest of the Dead lived not again,
until the Thousand Years were finished, ver._ 5. That implies, that at
the End of these Thousand Years, the rest of the Dead did live again;
which, according to the Allegory, must be, that, after a Thousand Years,
all the Wicked will be regenerate, and rais’d into Spiritual Life. These
Absurdities arise upon an allegorical Exposition of this Resurrection,
if apply’d to single Persons.

But Dr. _Hammond_, a learned and worthy Divine, (but one that loves to
contract and cramp the Sense of Prophecies) making this first
Resurrection allegorical, applies it not to single Persons, but to the
State of the Church in general: The Christian Church, he says, shall
have a Resurrection for a Thousand Years; that is, shall rise out of
Persecution, be in a prosperous Condition, and an undisturbed Profession
of the true Religion, for so long a Time. But this agrees with the
Prophecy as little as the former; if it be a State of the Church in
general, and of the Church then in being, why is this Resurrection
apply’d to the Martyrs? Why are they said to rise; seeing the State they
liv’d in, was a troublesome State of the Church, and it would be no
Happiness to have that reviv’d again? Then as to the Time of this
Resurrection of the Church, where will you fix it? The Prophet _Daniel_
places this Reign of Christ, at, or after the Dissolution of the fourth
Monarchy; and Saint _John_ places it a Thousand Years before the last
Day of Judgment. How will you adjust the allegorical Resurrection of the
Church to these Limits? Or if, in point of Time, you was free, as to
Prophecy, yet how would you adjust it to History? Where will you take
these Thousand Years of Happiness and Prosperity to the Church? These
Authors suppose them past, and therefore must begin them either from the
first Times of the Gospel, or from the Time of _Constantine_. Under the
first Ages of the Gospel, were, you know, the great Persecutions by the
_Heathen_ Emperors; could those be call’d the Reign of Christ and of his
Saints? Was Satan then bound? Or was this _Epocha_ but a thousand Years
before the Day of Judgment? And if you begin this Resurrection of the
Church from the Days of _Constantine_, when the Empire became Christian,
how will you reckon a thousand Years from that Time, for the Continuance
of the Church in _Peace_ and _Purity_? For the Reign of Christ and of
his Saints must necessarily imply both those Characters. Besides, who
are the _rest of the Dead_, (ver. 5.) that lived after the Expiration of
those thousand Years, if they began at _Constantine_? And why is not the
second Resurrection and the Day of Judgment yet come? Lastly, you ought
to be tender of interpreting the first Resurrection in an allegorical
Sense, lest you expose the second Resurrection to be made an Allegory
also.

To conclude; The Words of the Text are plain and express for a literal
Resurrection, as to the first, as well as the second; and there is no
allegorical Interpretation that I know of, that will hold through all
the Particulars of the Text, consistently with it self and with History.
And when we shall have proved this future Kingdom of Christ from other
Places of the _Apocalypse_, and of Holy Writ, you will the more easily
admit the literal Sense of this Place; which, you know, according to the
receiv’d Rule of Interpreters, is never to be quitted or forsaken,
without Necessity: But when I speak of confirming this Doctrine from
other Passages of Scripture, I do not mean as to that definite Time of a
_Thousand Years_, for that is no where else mention’d in the
_Apocalypse_, or in Scripture, that I know of; and seems to be mention’d
here, in this Close of all Things, to mind us of that Type that was
propos’d in the Beginning of all Things, _of six Days and a Sabbath_;
whereof each Day comprehends a Thousand Years, and the _Sabbath_, which
is the _Millennial State_, hath its Thousand; according to the known
Prophecy of _Elias_, Book III. Ch. v. which, as I told you before, was
not only receiv’d among the _Jews_, but also own’d by very many of the
Christian Fathers.

To proceed therefore to other Parts of St. _John’s_ Prophecies, that set
forth this Kingdom of Christ; the Vision of the _Seven Trumpets_ is one
of the most remarkable in the _Apocalypse_; and the Seventh Trumpet,
which plainly reaches to the End of the World, and the Resurrection of
the Dead, opens the Scene to the _Millennium_; hear the Sound of it, Ch.
xi. 15, 16, 17, 18. _The seventh Angel sounded, and there were great
Voices in Heaven, saying, The Kingdoms of this World are become the
Kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and
ever. And the four and twenty Elders, which sat before God on their
Seats, fell upon their Faces, and worshipped God; saying, we give thee
Thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come;
because thou hast taken to thee thy great Power, and hast reigned. And
the Nations were angry, and thy Wrath is come, and the Time of the Dead,
that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give Reward unto thy
Servants the Prophets, and to the Saints, and them that fear thy Name,
small and great, and shouldest destroy them that destroy the Earth_, &c.
This is manifestly the Kingdom of Christ; and with this is joined the
Resurrection of the Dead, and the rewarding of the suffering Prophets
and Saints, as in the xxth _Chapter_. This is that _Mystery of God that
was to be finished in the Days of the Voice of the seventh Angel_, as is
said in the xxth Chap. ver. 7. _As he hath declared to his Servants the
Prophets_; namely, the Mystery of this Kingdom, which was foretold by
the Prophets of the _Old Testament_, and more especially by _Daniel_, as
we shall see hereafter.

The _new Jerusalem_ (as it is set down, _Apoc._ xxi. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.)
is another Instance or Image of this Kingdom of Christ. And the
_Palm-bearing Company_, Chap. vii. 9, _&c._ are some of the Martyrs that
shall enjoy it. They are plainly describ’d there as Christian Martyrs;
(_ver._ 14.) and their Reward, or the State of Happiness they are to
enjoy, (ver. 15, 16, 17.) is the same with that of the Inhabitants of
the _new Jerusalem_, Ch. xxi. 2, 3, 4, _&c._ as, upon comparing those
two Places, will easily appear. Farthermore, at the Opening of the
_Seals_, Chap. v. which is another principal Vision, and reaches to the
End of the World, there is a Prospect given us of this Kingdom of
Christ, and of that Reward of his Saints. For when they sing the new
Song to the Lamb, (_ver._ 9, 10.) they say, _Thou art worthy to take the
Book, and to open the Seals thereof; for thou wast slain and hast
redeemed us to God, by thy Blood; and hast made us into our God Kings
and Priests, and we shall reign on the Earth._ This must be the same
State, and the same Thousand-Years-Reign mention’d in the xxth _Chap._
where ’tis said, (_Ver._ 6.) the Partakers of it _shall be Priests of
God, and of Christ, and shall reign with him a Thousand Years_.

Another completory Vision, that extends it self to the End of the World,
is that of the _Seven Vials_, Chap. xv. and xvi. And as at the Opening
of the Seals, so at the pouring out the Vials, a triumphal Song is sung,
and ’tis call’d the _Song of Moses and of the Lamb_, Ch. xv. 3. ’Tis
plainly a Song of Thanksgiving for a Deliverance, but I do not look upon
this Deliverance as already wrought, before the pouring out of the
Vials, tho’ it be plac’d before them; as often the grand Design and
Issue of a Vision is plac’d at the Beginning: It is wrought by the Vials
themselves, and by their Effusion, and therefore upon the pouring out of
the last Vial, the Voice came out of the Temple of Heaven, from the
Throne, saying, _Consummatum est_; _It is done_, Ch. xvi. 17. Now the
Deliverance is wrought, now the Work is at an End; or, _the Mystery of
God is finished_, as the Phrase was before, concerning the 7th Trumpet,
_Chap._ x. 7. You see therefore this terminates upon the same Time, and
consequently upon the same State, of the _Millennium_; and that they are
the same Persons that triumph here, and reign there, _Chap._ xx. you may
see by the same Characters given to both of them, _Ch._ xv. 2. Here,
those that triumph, are said _to have gotten the Victory_ over the
Beast, and over his Image, _and over his Mark, and over the Number of
his Name_, Ch. xx. 4. And there, those that reign with Christ, are said
to be those _that had not worshiped the Beast, neither his Image,
neither had received his Mark upon their Foreheads, or in their Hands_.
These are the same Persons therefore, triumphing over the same Enemies,
and enjoying the same Reward.

And you shall seldom find any _Doxology_ or _Hallelujah_ in the
_Apocalypse_, but ’tis in Prospect of the Kingdom of Christ, and the
Millennial State: This is still the Burthen of the sacred Song, the
Complement of every grand Vision, and the Life and Strength of the whole
System of Prophecies in that Book: Even those _Hallelujahs_ that are
sung at the Destruction of _Babylon_, in the xixth Chapter, _ver._ 6, 7.
are rais’d upon the succeeding State, _the Reign of Christ_. For the
Text says, _And I heard as it were a Voice of a great Multitude, and as
the Voice of many Waters, and as the Voice of mighty Thunders, saying,
Hallelujah_: FOR THE LORD GOD OMNIPOTENT REIGNETH. _Let us be glad and
rejoyce, and give Honour to him_: FOR THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB IS COME,
AND HIS WIFE HATH MADE HER SELF READY. This appears plainly to be the
_new Jerusalem_, if you consult the 21st _Ch. ver. 2. And I _John_ saw
the Holy City, new _Jerusalem,_ coming down from God out of Heaven_,
PREPARED AS A BRIDE ADORNED FOR HER HUSBAND. ’Tis, no doubt, the same
Bride and Bridegroom, in both Places; the same Marriage or Preparations
for Marriage, which are compleated in the Millennial Bliss, in the
Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints.

I must beg your patience a little longer, in pursuing this Argument
throughout the _Apocalypse_; As towards the latter End of St. _John_’s
Revelation, this Kingdom of Christ shines out in a more full Glory; so
there are the Dawnings of it in the very Beginning and Entrance into his
Prophecies. As at the Beginning of a Poem, we have commonly, in a few
Words, the Design of the Work, in like Manner Ch. i. 5, 6. St. _John_
makes this Preface to his Prophecies, _From Jesus Christ, who is the
faithful Witness, the first begotten of the Dead, and the Prince of the
Kings of the Earth; unto him that loved us, and washed us from our Sins
in his own Blood; and hath made us Kings and Priests unto God and his
Father; to him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever, Amen. Behold, he
cometh in the Clouds, &c._ In this Prologue the grand Argument is
pointed at, and that happy Catastrophe and last Scene, which is to crown
the Work, the Reign of Christ and of his Saints at his second Coming. He
hath _made us Kings and Priests unto God_; this is always the
Characteristick of those that are to enjoy the Millennial Happiness, as
you may see at the Opening of the Seals, Ch. v. 10. and in the Sons of
the _first Resurrection_, Ch. xx. 6. And this being joined to the Coming
of our Saviour, puts it still more out of Doubt. That Expression also,
of being _washed from our Sins in his Blood_, is repeated again both at
the Opening of the Seals, _chap. v. 9._ and in the _Palm-bearing_
Company, _chap. vii. 14._ both which Places we have cited before, as
referring to the Millennial State.

Give me Leave to add farther, that as in this general Preface, so also
in the introductory Visions of the _seven Churches_, there are, covertly
or expresly, in the Conclusion of each, glances upon the _Millennium_;
as in the first to _Ephesus_, the Prophet concludes, _chap. ii. 7._ _He
that hath an Ear, let him hear, what the Spirit says to the Churches_:
TO HIM THAT OVERCOMETH, WILL I GIVE TO EAT OF THE TREE OF LIFE, WHICH IS
IN THE MIDST OF THE PARADISE OF GOD. This is the Millennial Happiness
which is promised to the Conqueror; as we noted before concerning that
Phrase. In like manner in the second to _Smyrna_, he concludes, _chap.
ii. 11._ _He that overcometh, shall not be hurt of the second Death._
This implies, he shall be Partaker of the _first Resurrection_, for
that’s the Thing understood; as you may see plainly by their being
joyn’d in the _xxth Chapter ver. 6._ _Blessed and holy is he that hath
Part in the first Resurrection; on such the second Death hath no Power,
but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him
a thousand Years._ In the third to _Pergamus_, the Promise is, _chap.
ii. 7._ _To eat of the hidden Manna, to have a white Stone, and a new
Name written in it_: But seeing the Prophet adds, _which no Man knoweth,
saving he that receiveth it_, we will not presume to interpret that new
State, whatsoever it is, _chap. ii. 26, 27._ In _Thyatira_, the Reward
is, _To have Power over the Nations_, and to have the Morning Star;
which is to reign with Christ, who is the Morning Star, in his
Millennial Empire: Both these Phrases being us’d in that Sense in the
Close of this Book, Ch. iii. 5. In Sardis the Promise is, _To be
cloathed in white Raiment, and not to be blotted out of the Book of
Life_. And you see afterwards the _Palme bearing_ Company are cloathed
in _white Robes_, Ch. vii. 9, 14. and those that are admitted into the
_new Jerusalem_, Chap. iii. 12. are such as are _written in the Lamb’s
Book of Life_, Ch. xxi. 27. Then as to Philadelphia, the Reward promised
there does openly mark the Millennial State, by the _City of God_; _new
Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from God_, compar’d with Ch.
xxi. 2. Lastly, to the Church of _Laodicea_ is said, Ch. iii. 21. _To
him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my Throne._ And that
is the usual Phrase to express the Dignity of those that reign with
Christ, in his Millennial Kingdom; as you may see, _Apoc. xx. 4._ _Matt.
xix. 28._ _Dan. vii. 9, 13, 14._ So all these Promises to the Churches
aim at one and the same thing, and terminate upon the same Point: ’Tis
the same Reward express’d in different Ways; and seeing it is still
fix’d upon a Victory, and appropriated to those that overcome, it does
the more easily carry our Thoughts to the _Millennium_, which is the
proper Reward of Victors, that is, of Martyrs and Confessors.

Thus you see how this Notion and Mystery of the Millennial Kingdom of
Christ, does both begin and End the _Apocalypse_, and run thorough all
its Parts, as the Soul of that Body of Prophecies; a Spirit or Ferment
that actuates the whole Mass. And if we could thoroughly understand that
illustrious Scene, at the Opening of this Apocalyptical Theatre in the
ivth and vth _Chapter_, I do not doubt but we should find it a
Representation of the Majesty of our Saviour in the Glory of his future
Kingdom; but I dare not venture upon the Explication of it, there are so
many Things of Difficulty, and dubious Interpretation, coucht under
those Schemes. Wherefore having made these Observations upon the
Prophecies of St. _John_, we will now add to them some Reflections upon
the Prophecies of _Daniel_: that by the Agreement and Concurrence of
these two great Witnesses, the Conclusion we pretend to prove, may be
fully established.

In the Prophecies of _Daniel_ there are two grand Visions, that of the
_Statue_ or Image, _Chap. ii._ and that of the four Beasts, _Chap. vii._
and both these Visions terminate upon the _Millennium_, or the Kingdom
of Christ. In the Vision of the Statue, representing to us the four
great Monarchies of the World successively, whereof by the general
Consent of Interpreters, the _Roman_ is the fourth and last, after the
Dissolution of the last of them, a fifth Monarchy, the Kingdom of
Christ, is openly introduc’d, in these Words: _And in the Days of these
Kingdoms, shall the God of Heaven set up a Kingdom, which shall never be
destroyed; and the Kingdom shall not be left to other People, but it
shall break in Pieces, and consume all those Kingdoms, and it shall
stand for ever, Ch. ii. ver. 44._ This may be verified, in some measure,
by the first coming of our Saviour in the Days of the fourth Kingdom,
when his Religion, from small Beginnings, in a short Time over-spread
the greatest Part of the known World. As the _Stone cut out without
Hands_, became a great _Mountain, and filled the whole Earth, ver. 34,
35._ but the full and final Accomplishment of this Prophecy cannot be
till the second coming of our Saviour. For not till then will he, _Ver.
35_, _break in pieces and consume all those Kingdoms; and that in such a
manner, that they shall become like the Chaff of the Summer-threshing
Floor, carried away by the Wind; so as no Place shall be found for
them_. This, I say, will not be done, nor an everlasting Kingdom erected
in their place, over all the Nations of the Earth, till his second
coming, and his Millennial Reign.

But this Reign is declared more expresly, in the Vision of the four
Beasts, _Ch. vii. ver. 13._ For after the Destruction of the fourth
Beast, the Prophet says, _I saw in the Night Visions, and behold one
like the Son of Man, came with the Clouds of Heaven, and came to the
Antient of Days, and they brought him near before him: And there was
given him Dominion, and Glory, and a Kingdom, that all People, Nations
and Languages should serve him; his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion,
which shall not pass away; and his Kingdom that which shall not be
destroyed_. Accordingly, he says, _Ver. 21, 22._ _The last Beast, and
the little Horn, made war against the Saints, until the Antient of Days
came, and Judgment was given to the Saints of the most High; and the
Time came that the Saints possessed the Kingdom_. And lastly, in Pursuit
still of the same Argument, he concludes to the same Effect in fuller
Words, ver. 26, 27. _But the Judgment shall sit, and they shall take
away his Dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the End. And the
Kingdom and Dominion, and the Greatness of the Kingdom under the whole
Heaven, shall be given to the People of the Saints of the most High;
whose Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and all Dominions shall serve
and obey him._

_Here is the End of the Matter_, says the Prophet, Chap. vii. ver. 28.
Chap. xii. ver. 13. Here is the Upshot and Result of all; here terminate
both the Prophecies of _Daniel_ and St. _John_, and all the Affairs of
the terrestrial World. _Daniel_ brings in this Kingdom of Christ, in the
Conclusion of two or three Visions; but St. _John_ hath interwoven it
every where with his Prophecies, from first to last: And you may as well
open a Lock without a Key, as interpret the _Apocalypse_ without the
_Millennium_. But after these two great Witnesses, the one for the _Old
Testament_, the other for the _New_, we must look into the rest of the
sacred Writers; for tho’ every single Author there, is an Oracle, yet
the Concurrence of Oracles is still a farther Demonstration, and takes
away all Remains of Doubt or Incredulity.




                                CHAP. V.


    _A View of other Places of Scripture concerning the_ Millennium _or
    future Kingdom of Christ. In what Sense all the Prophets have borne
    Testimony concerning it._


The Wife of _Zebedee_ came to our Saviour, and begg’d of him, like a
fond Mother, that her two Sons might sit, one at his Right Hand, the
other at his Left, when he came into his Kingdom, _Matt._ xx. 21. Our
Saviour does not deny the Supposition, or general Ground of her Request,
that _he was to have a Kingdom_; but tells her, the Honours of that
Kingdom were not then in his Disposal. He had not drunk his Cup, nor
been baptiz’d with his last Baptism; which were Conditions, both to him
and others, of entring into that Kingdom. Yet, in another place,
(_Matt._ xix. 28.) our Saviour is so well assur’d of his Interest and
Authority there, by the Good-will of his Father, that he promises to his
Disciples and Followers, that for the Losses they should sustain here,
upon his Account, and for the Sake of his Gospel, they should receive
there an hundred-fold, and sit upon Thrones with him, judging the Tribes
of _Israel_. The Words are these: _And Jesus said unto them, Verily I
say unto you, that ye which have followed me_, in the Regeneration or
Renovation, _when the Son of Man shall sit in the Throne of his Glory,
ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones, judging the twelve Tribes of_
Israel. These Thrones, in all Reason, must be understood to be the same
with those, which we mention’d in the foregoing Chapter out of _Daniel_
vii. 9. and _Apocal._ xx. 4. and therefore mark the same Time, and the
same State. And seeing, in those Places, they plainly signify the
Millennial State, or the Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints, they must
here signify the same, in this Promise of our Saviour to his suffering
Followers. And as to the Word _Palingenesia_, which is here translated
_Regeneration_, ’tis very well known, that both the _Greek_
Philosophers, and _Greek_ Fathers, use that very Word for the
_Renovation of the World_; which is to be, as we shall hereafter make
appear, at or before the Millennial State.

Our Saviour also, in his Divine Sermon upon the Mount, makes this one of
his _Beatitudes_, _Blessed are the Meek, for they shall inherit the
Earth_: But _how_, I pray, or _where_, or _when_, do the Meek inherit
the Earth? Neither at present, I am sure, nor in any past Ages. ’Tis the
great ones of the World, ambitious Princes and Tyrants, that slice the
Earth amongst them; and those that can flatter them best, or serve them
in their Interests or Pleasures, have the next best Shares: But a meek,
modest and humble Spirit, is the most unqualified Person that can be,
for a Court, or a Camp; to scramble for Preferment, or Plunder. Both he,
and his self denying Notions, are ridicul’d, as Things of no Use, and
proceeding from Meanness and Poorness of Spirit. _David_, who was a
Person of an admirable Devotion, but of an unequal Spirit; subject to
great Dejections, as well as Elevations of Mind; was so much affected
with the Prosperity of the Wicked in this World, that he could scarce
forbear charging Providence with Injustice. You may see several Touches
of a repining Spirit in his _Psalms_, and in the lxxiiid _Psalm_,
compos’d upon that Subject, you have both the Wound and the Cure. Now
this Beatitude pronounc’d here by our Saviour, was spoken before by
_David_, _Psal._ xxxvii. 11. the same _David_, that was always so
sensible of the hard Usage of the Just in this Life. Our Saviour also,
and his Apostles, preach’d the Doctrine of the Cross every where, and
foretell the Sufferings that shall attend the Righteous in this World.
Therefore neither _David_, nor our Saviour, could understand this
_Inheritance of the Earth_, otherwise than of some future State, or of a
State yet to come. But as it must be a future State, so it must be a
terrestrial State; for it could not be call’d the _Inheritance of the
Earth_, if it was not so. And ’tis to be a State of _Peace_, as well as
_Plenty_, according to the Words of the _Psalmist_, _But the Meek shall
inherit the Earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of
Peace_. It follows therefore from these Premisses, that both our
Saviour, and _David_, must understand some future State of the Earth,
wherein the _Meek_ will enjoy both Peace and Plenty; and this will
appear to be the future Kingdom of Christ, when, upon a fuller
Description, we shall have given you the Marks and Characters of it.

In the mean time, why should we not suppose this Earth, which the Meek
are to inherit, to be that _habitable Earth to come_, which St. _Paul_
mentions (_Heb._ ii. 6.) and represents as subject to our Saviour in a
peculiar Manner, at his Disposal, and under his Government, as his
Kingdom? Why should not that Earth be the Subject of this Beatitude, the
promis’d Land, the Lot of the Righteous? This I am sure of, that both
this Text and the former deserve our serious Thoughts; and tho’ they do
not expresly, and in Terms, prove the future Kingdom of our Saviour, yet
upon the fairest Interpretations they imply such a State. And it would
be very uneasy to give a satisfactory Account, either of the
_Regeneration_ or _Renovation_, when our Saviour and his Disciples shall
sit upon Thrones; or of that _Earth_ which the _Meek shall inherit_: Or,
lastly, of that _habitable World_, which is peculiarly subject to the
Dominion of Jesus Christ, without supposing, on this side Heaven, some
other Reign of Christ and his Saints, than what we see, or what they
enjoy, at present.

But to proceed in this Argument, it will be necessary, as I told you, to
set down some Notes and Characters of the Reign of Christ and of his
Saints, whereby it may be distinguish’d from the present State and
present Kingdoms of the World: And these Characters are chiefly three,
_Justice_, _Peace_, and _Divine Presence_ or Conduct, which uses to be
called _Theocracy_. By these Characters it is sufficiently distinguish’d
from the Kingdoms of this World; which are generally unjust in their
Titles or Exercise, stain’d with Blood, and so far from being under a
particular Divine Conduct, that Human Passions and Human Vices are the
Springs that commonly give Motion to their greatest Designs: But more
particularly and restrainedly, the Government of Christ is oppos’d to
the Kingdom and Government of Antichrist, whose Characters arc
diametrically opposite to these, being _Injustice_, _Cruelty_, and
_human or diabolical Artifices_.

Upon this short View of the Kingdom of Christ, let us make Enquiry after
it amongst the Prophets of the _Old Testament_; and we shall find, upon
Examination, that there is scarce any of them, greater or lesser, but
take notice of this mystical Kingdom, either expresly, or under the
Types of _Israel_, _Sion_, _Jerusalem_, and such-like. And therefore I
am apt to think, that when St. _Peter_, in his Sermon to the _Jews_,
_Acts_ iii. says, all the holy Prophets spoke of _the Restitution of all
Things_, he does not mean the Renovation of the World separately from
the Kingdom of Christ, but complexly, as it may imply both. For there
are not many of the old Prophets that have spoken of the Renovation of
the _natural_ World, but a great many have spoken of the Renovation of
the _moral_, in the Kingdom of Christ. These are St. _Peter_’s Words,
_Acts_ iii. 19, 20, 21. _Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that
your Sins may be blotted out, when the Times of refreshing shall come
from the Presence of the Lord. And he shall send Jesus Christ which
before was preached unto you; whom the Heavens must receive until the
Times of RESTITUTION OF ALL THINGS._ The Apostle here mentions three
Things, the _Times of refreshing_, the _second coming_ of our Saviour,
and the _Times of Restitution of all Things_: And to the last of these
he immediately subjoins, _which God hath spoken by the Mouth of all his
holy Prophets, since the World began_. This _Restitution of all Things_,
I say, must not be understood abstractly from the Reign of Christ, but
as in Conjunction with it; and in that Sense, and no other, it is the
general Subject of the Prophets.

To enter therefore into the Schools of the Prophets, and enquire their
Sense concerning this Mystery, let us first address our selves to the
Prophet _Isaiah_, and the royal Prophet _David_; who seem to have had
many noble Thoughts or Inspirations upon this Subject. _Isaiah_, in the
lxvth Chapter, from the xviith Verse to the End, treats upon this
Argument; and joins together the Renovation of the natural and moral
World, as St. _Peter_, in the Place fore-mentioned, seems to do: And
accordingly the Prophet, having set down several natural Characters of
that State, as Indolency and Joy, Longevity, Ease, and Plenty, from
_ver._ 18. to the 24th, he there begins the moral Characters of Divine
Favour, and such a particular Protection, that they are heard and
answer’d before they pray. And lastly, he represents it as a State of
universal Peace and Innocency, _ver._ 23. _The Wolf and the Lamb shall
feed together_, &c.

This last Character, which comprehends _Peace_, _Justice_ and
_Innocency_, is more fully display’d by the same Prophet, in the xith
Chapter, where he treats also of the Kingdom of Christ. Give me leave to
set down his Words, ver. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. _But with Righteousness shall
he judge the Poor, and reprove with Equity, for the Meek of the Earth:
and he shall smite the Earth with the Rod of his Mouth, and with the
Breath of his Lips shall he slay the Wicked. And Righteousness shall be
the Girdle of his Loins, and Faithfulness the Girdle of his Reins. The
Wolf also shall dwell with the Lamb, and the Leopard shall lie down with
the Kid; and the Calf and the young Lyon, and the Fatling together, and
a little Child shall lead them. And the Cow and the Bear shall feed, and
their young Ones shall lie down together; and the Lyon shall eat Straw
like the Ox. And the sucking Child shall play on the Hole of the Asp,
and the weaned Child shall put his Hand on the Cockatrice-Den. They
shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain; for the Earth shall
be full of the Knowledge of the Lord, as the Waters cover the Sea._ Thus
far the Prophet. Now if we join this to what we noted before, from his
lxvth Chapter, concerning the same State, ’twill be impossible to
understand it of any Order of Things, that is now, or hath been hitherto
in the World; And consequently it must be the Idea of some State to
come, and particularly of that which we call the future Kingdom of
Christ.

The same pacifick Temper, Innocency and Justice, are celebrated by this
Prophet, when the _Mountain of the Lord shall be established in the Top
of the Mountains_, Chap. ii. 2, 4. _And he shall judge amongst the
Nations, and shall rebuke many People; and they shall beat their Swords
into Plow-shares, and their Spears into Pruning-hooks. Nation shall not
lift up Sword against Nation, neither shall they learn War any more._
And as to Righteousness, he says, in the xxiiid Chapter, _Behold a King
shall reign in Righteousness, and Princes shall rule in Judgment_, &c.
These Places, I know, usually are apply’d to the first coming of our
Saviour; the Peaceableness of his Doctrine, and the Propagation of it
thro’ all the World. I willingly allow this to be a true Sense, so far
as it will go: But ’tis one thing to be a true Sense to such a Degree,
and another thing to be the final Sense and Accomplishment of a
Prophecy. The Affairs of the first and second coming of our Saviour are
often mingled together in the Prophecies of the _Old Testament_; but in
that Mixture there are some Characters whereby you may distinguish what
belongs to his first, and what to his second coming; what to the Time
when he came to suffer, and what to the Time when he shall come to
reign. For Instance, in these Prophecies recited, though there are many
Things very applicable to his first coming, yet that _Regality_ which is
often spoken of, and that universal Peace and Innocency that will
accompany it, cannot be verified of his coming in the Flesh, seeing it
is plain, that in his State of Humiliation he did not come as a King, to
rule over the Nations of the Earth, (_Matt._ xx. 21. _Luke_ xxiii. 42.)
And he says himself expresly, _That his Kingdom is not of this World_,
John xviii. 36. And the Prayer of _Salome_, and of the good Thief upon
the Cross, suppose it not then present, but to come. Then as to the
Establishment of _Peace_ in his Kingdom, it does not at all appear to me
that there is more Peace in the World now, than there was before our
Saviour came into it; or that the Christian Parts of the World are more
peaceable than the Unchristian. Therefore these great Promises of a
_pacifick Kingdom_, which are express’d in Terms as high and emphatical
as can be imagin’d, must belong to some other Days, and some other Ages,
than what we have seen hitherto.

You’ll say, it may be, ’Tis not the Fault of the Gospel that the World
is not peaceable, but of those that profess it, and do not practice it.
This is true, but it does not answer the Prophecy; for that makes no
Exception, and by such a Reserve as this, you may elude any Prophecy. So
the _Jews_ say, their _Messiah_ defers his coming beyond the Time
appointed by Prophecy, because of their Sins; but we do not allow this
for a good Reason. The _Israelites_ had their promised _Canaan_, tho’
they had render’d themselves unworthy of it; and by this Method of
interpreting Prophecies, all the Happiness and Glory promised in the
Millennial Kingdom of Christ may come to nothing, upon a pretended
Forfeiture. Threatnings indeed may have a tacit Condition; God may be
better than his Word, and, upon Repentance, divert his Judgments; but he
cannot be worse than his Word, or fail of Performance, when, without any
Condition express’d, he promises or prophecies good Things to come: This
would destroy all Assurance of Hope or Faith. Lastly, this Prophecy
concerning pacifick Times or a _pacifick Kingdom_, is in the lxvth
Chapter of _Isaiah_, subjoin’d to the _Renovation of the Heavens and the
Earth_, and several Marks of a Change in the natural World; which Things
we know did not come to pass at the first coming of our Saviour; there
was no Change of Nature then, nor has been ever since: And therefore
this happy Change, both in the natural and moral World, is yet to come.

But, as we said before, we do not speak this exclusively of the first
coming of our Saviour, as to other Parts of these Prophecies; for no
doubt that was one great Design of them. And in the Prophecies of the
Old Testament, there are often three Gradations, or gradual
Accomplishments; the first, in some King of _Israel_, or some Person or
Affair relating to _Israel_, as National only: The second, in the
Messiah at his first coming: And the last, in the Messiah, and his
Kingdom at his second coming. And that which we affirm and contend for,
is, that the Prophecies fore-mentioned have not a final and total
Accomplishment, either in the Nation of the _Jews_, or at the first
coming of our Saviour; and this we abide by.

The next Prophet that we mention’d as a Witness of the future Kingdom of
Christ, is _David_; who, in his _Psalms_, seems to be pleas’d with this
Subject above all others: And when he is most exalted in his Thoughts
and prophetical Raptures, the Spirit carries him into the Kingdom of the
Messiah, to contemplate its Glory, to sing Praises to its King, and
triumph over his Enemies, _Psal._ lxviii. _Let God arise, let his
Enemies be scattered; Let them also that hate him flee before him: As
Smoak is driven away, so drive them away; at Wax melteth before the
Fire, so let the Wicked perish at the Presence of God: But let the
Righteous be glad_, &c. The plain Ground he goes upon in this _Psalm_,
is the Deliverance out of _Ægypt_, and bringing the _Israelites_ into
the Land of _Canaan_; but when he is once upon the Wing, he soars to an
higher Pitch (_ver._ 18.) from the Type to the Antitype; to the Days of
the Messiah, the Ascension of our Saviour; and, at length, to his
Kingdom and Dominion over all the Earth, _ver._ 32, _&c._ The xlvth
_Psalm_ is an _Epithalamium_ to Christ and the Church, or to the _Lamb_
and his _Spouse_. And when that will be, and in what State, we may learn
from St. _John_, _Apoc._, xix. 7, 8. and _chap._ xix. 2, 9. Namely,
after the Destruction of _Babylon_, in the _New Jerusalem_’s Glory. The
Words and Matter of the two Prophets, answer to one another. Here, in
this _Psalm_, there is a Fight and Victory celebrated as well as a
Marriage; and so there is in that xixth Chapter of Saint _John_. Here
the Prophet says, _Gird thy Sword upon thy Thigh, O most Mighty, with
thy Glory and thy Majesty. And in thy Majesty ride prosperously because
of Truth and Meekness and Righteousness; and thy right Hand shall teach
thee terrible Things. Thy Throne, O God, is for ever and ever: The
Scepter of thy Kingdom is a right Scepter_, &c. _Psal._ xlv. 3, 4, 6.
There St. _John_ says, having describ’d a Conqueror on a white Horse,
_Out of his Mouth goeth a sharp Sword, that with it he should smite the
Nations, and he shall rule them with a Rod of Iron; and he treadeth the
Wine-press of the Fierceness and Wrath of Almighty God: And he hath on
his Vesture, and on his Thigh a Name written, KING of KINGS, and LORD of
LORDS_, Apoc. xix. 15, 16. This is the same glorious Conqueror and
Bridegroom in both Places; and this Victory is not gain’d, nor these
Nuptials compleated, till the second Coming of our Saviour.

In many other _Psalms_ there are Reflections upon this happy Kingdom,
and the Triumph of Christ over his Enemies, as _Psal._ ii. _Psal._ ix.
_Psal._ xxi. and xxiv. and xlvii. and lxxxv. and cx. and others. In
these, and such-like _Psalms_, there are Lineaments and Colours of a
fairer State than any we have yet seen upon Earth. Not but that in their
first Instances and Grounds they may sometimes respect the State of
_Israel_, or the Evangelical State; but the Eye of the Prophet goes
farther; this does not terminate his Sight: His Divine Enthusiasm
reaches into another World; a World of _Peace_, and _Justice_, and
_Holiness_; of Joy, and Victory, and Triumph over all the Wicked; and
consequently such a World, as neither we nor our Fathers, have yet seen.
This is an Account of two Prophets _David_, and _Isaiah_; and of what
they have more openly declar’d concerning the future Kingdom of Christ.
But to verify St. _Peter_’s Words, in that fore-mention’d Place, _Acts_
iii. 21. _viz._ That all of the _Holy Prophets since the World began_,
have spoken of the Restauration of all Things at the second coming of
Christ. I say, to verify this Assertion of St. _Peter_, we must suppose,
that, where the Prophets speak of the Restauration and future Glory of
_Judah_ and _Jerusalem_, they do, under those Types, represent to us the
Glory and Happiness of the Church in the future Kingdom of Christ: And
most of the Prophets, in this Sense, and under these Forms, have spoken
of this Kingdom; in foretelling the Restauration of _Jerusalem_ and
_Sion_; and happy Days, Peace, Plenty, and Prosperity to the People of
_Israel_.

Most of the Prophets, I say, from _Moses_ to _Malachi_, have spoken of
this _Restauration_. _Moses_, in the xxxth of _Deut._ ver. 4, 5, 9.
_David_ also in many of those _Psalms_ we have cited: _Isaiah_, besides
the Places fore-mentioned, treats amply of this Subject, _chap._ li. and
in several other Places. So likewise the Prophets _Ezekiel_, _Daniel_,
_Hosea_, _Joel_, _Amos_, _Obadiah_, _Micah_, _Zephaniah_, _Haggai_,
_Zachary_, _Malachi_: All these have, either expresly, or under the
Types of _Jerusalem_ and _Sion_, foretold happy Days, and a glorious
Triumph to the Church of God. And seeing in the New Testament, and in
the Prophecies of St. _John_, the Christian Church is still represented,
as under Persecution and Distress, till the Fall of Anti-christ, and the
millennial Kingdom; ’tis then, and not till then, that we must expect
the full Accomplishment of these Prophecies; the _Restauration_ that St.
_Peter_ says was spoken of, by _all the Prophets_; and the _Mystery_,
which St. _John_ says (_Apoc._ x. 7.) was _declared by his Servants the
Prophets, and_ would be finish’d under the _seventh Trumpet_, which
ushers in the Kingdom of Christ.

It would be too long to examine all these Places in the Prophets, which
you may consult at Leisure. However, it cannot seem strange that
_Jerusalem_ should be us’d in a typical or allegorical Sense, seeing we
often find such Applications of it in the New Testament; as _Gal._ iv.
26. _Heb._ xii. 22. _Apoc._ iii. 12. And ’tis very natural that
_Jerusalem restor’d_, should signify the same thing as _new Jerusalem_;
and therefore that St. _John_, by his _new Jerusalem_, intended the same
thing, or the same State, that the antient Prophets did by their
Restauration of _Jerusalem_. And it neither can be understood in a
literal Sense, which, I believe, you will not contend for, they must
both be interpreted of the future Happiness and Glory of the Church in
the Kingdom of Christ.

But to conclude this Point wholly as to Scripture; if we make Reflection
upon all the Passages alledged in this and the foregoing Chapter,
whether out of the Old or New Testament, we must at least acknowledge
thus much, that there are happy Days, at one time or other: Days of
Peace and Righteousness; of Joy and Triumph, of external Prosperity, and
internal Sanctity; when Virtue and Innocency shall be in the Throne, and
Vice and vicious Men out of Power or Credit. That there are such happy
Days prophesied of in Scripture, and promised to the Church of God.
Whether you call this the _Reign of Christ_ and of his Saints or by any
other Name, it is not material at present to determine; let the Title be
what you will, as to the Substance it cannot be denied to be a general
Doctrine of prophetical Scripture. And we must not imagine, that the
Prophets wrote like the Poets; feigned an Idea of a romantick State,
that never was, nor ever will be, only to please their own Fancies, or
the credulous People. Neither is it the State of Heaven and eternal Life
that is here meant or intended: For, besides that they had little or no
Light concerning those Notions, in the Old Testament, the Prophets
generally, in their Description of this Happiness, either express the
Earth, or at least give plain Marks of a terrestrial State. Wherefore,
the only Question that remains, is this, _Whether_ these happy Days are
past already, or to come? Whether this blessed State of the Church is
behind us, or before us? Whether our Predecessors have enjoyed it, or
our Posterity is to expect it? For we are very sure that it is not
present. The World is full of Wars, and Rumours of Wars; of Vice and
Knavery, of Oppression and Persecution: and these are things directly
contrary to the Genius and Characters of the State which we look after.

And if we look for it in Times past, we can go no farther back than the
beginning of Christianity. For St. _John_, the last of the Apostles,
prophesied of these Times, as to come; and plac’d them at the End of his
System of Prophecies; whereby one might conclude, that they are not only
within the Compass of the Christian Ages, but far advanc’d into them.
But however, not to insist upon that at present, where will you find a
thousand Years, from the Birth of Christianity to this present Age, that
deserves the Name, or answers to the Characters of this _pure_ and
_pacifick_ State of the Church? The first Ages of Christianity, as they
were the most pure, so likewise were they the least peaceable;
continually, more or less, under the Persecution of the Heathen
Emperors; and so far from being the Reign and Empire of Christ and his
Saints over the Nations, that Christians were then, every where, in
Subjection or Slavery; a poor, feeble, helpless People, thrust into
Prisons, or thrown to the Lions, at the Pleasure of their Princes or
Rulers. ’Tis true, when the Empire became Christian under _Constantine_,
in the fourth Century, there was, for a time, Peace and Prosperity in
the Church, and a good Degree of Purity and Piety; but that Peace was
soon disturb’d, and that Piety soon corrupted. The growing Pride and
Ambition of the Ecclesiasticks, and their easiness to admit or introduce
superstitious Practices, destroy’d the Purity of the Church. And as to
the Peace of it, their Contests about Opinions and Doctrines, tore the
Christians themselves into Pieces; and, soon after, an Inundation of
barbarous People fell into Christendom, and put it all into Flames and
Confusion. After this Eruption of the _Northern_ Nations, _Mahometanism_
rose in the _East_; and swarms of _Saracens_, like Armies of Locusts,
invaded, conquer’d, and planted their Religion in several Parts of the
_Roman_ Empire, and of the Christianiz’d World. And can we call such
Times the Reign of Christ, or the Imprisonment of Satan? In the
following Ages, the _Turks_ overran the _Eastern_ Empire and the _Greek_
Church, and still hold that miserable People in Slavery. Providence
seems to have so order’d Affairs, that the Christian World should be
never without a WOE upon it, lest it should fancy it self already in
those happy Days of Peace and Prosperity, which are reserv’d for future
Times. Lastly, whosoever is sensible of the Corruptions and Persecutions
of the Church of _Rome_, since she came to her Greatness; whosoever
allows her to be _Mystical Babylon_, which must fall before the Kingdom
of Christ comes on, will think that Kingdom duly plac’d by St. _John_ at
the End of his Prophecies, concerning the Christian Church; and that
there still _remains, according_ to the Words of St. _Paul_, (Heb. iv.
9.) _a Sabbatism to the People of God_.




                               CHAP. IV.


    _The Sense and Testimony of the Primitive Church concerning the_
    Millennium, _or future Kingdom of Christ; from the Times of the
    Apostles to the_ Nicene _Council. The second Proposition laid down.
    When, by what Means, and for what Reasons, that Doctrine was
    afterwards neglected or discountenanc’d._


You have heard the Voice of the _Prophets_ and _Apostles_, declaring the
future Kingdom of Christ: Next to these, the _Primitive Fathers_ are
accounted of good Authority; let us therefore now enquire into their
Sense concerning this Doctrine, that we may give Satisfaction to all
Parties; and both those that are guided by Scripture alone, and those
that have a Veneration for Antiquity, may find Proofs suitable to their
Inclinations and Judgment.

And to make few Words of it, we will lay down this Conclusion; _That the
millennial Kingdom of Christ was the general Doctrine of the Primitive
Church, from the Times of the Apostles to the_ Nicene _Council_,
inclusively. St. _John_ out-liv’d all the rest of the Apostles, and
towards the latter end of his Life, being banish’d into the Isle of
_Pathmos_, he wrote his _Apocalypse_; wherein he hath given us a more
full and distinct Account of the millennial Kingdom of Christ, than any
of the Prophets or Apostles before him. _Papias_, Bishop of
_Hierapolis_, and Martyr, one of St. _John_’s Auditors, as _Ireneus_
testifies, _Iren. Lib 5. c. 33._ taught the same Doctrine after St.
_John_. He was the familiar Friend of _Polycarp_, another of St.
_John_’s Disciples; and either from him, or immediately from St.
_John_’s Mouth, he might receive this Doctrine. That he taught it in the
Church, is agreed on by all Hands; both by those that are his Followers,
as _Irenæus_; and those that are not Well-wishers to this Doctrine, as
_Eusebius_ and _Jerome_.

There is also another Channel wherein this Doctrine is traditionally
deriv’d from St. _John_, namely, by the Clergy of _Asia_; as _Irenæus_
tells us in the same Chapter. For, arguing the Point, he shews that the
Blessing promis’d to _Jacob_ from his Father _Isaac_, was not made good
to him in this Life, and therefore he says, _without doubt those Words
had a farther Aim and Prospect upon the Times of the Kingdom:_ (so they
us’d to call the millennial State) _when the Just rising from the Dead,
shall reign; and when Nature renew’d and set at Liberty, shall yield
Plenty and Abundance of all things; being blest with the Dew of Heaven,
and a great Fertility of the Earth according as has been related by
those Ecclesiaticks or Clergy, who saw S._ John, _the Disciple of
Christ; and heard of him WHAT OUR LORD HAD TAUGHT CONCERNING THOSE
TIMES_. This you see, goes to the Fountain Head: The Christian Clergy
receive it from St. _John_, and St. _John_ relates it from the Mouth of
our Saviour.

So much for the original Authority of this Doctrine, as a Tradition;
that it was from St. _John_, and by him from Christ. And as to the
Propagation and prevailing of it in the Primitive Church, we can bring a
Witness beyond all exception, _Justin Martyr_, cotemporary with
_Irenæus_, and his Senior. He says, _that himself, and all the Orthodox
Christians of his Time, did acknowledge the Resurrection of the Flesh_
(suppose the first Resurrection) _and a thousand Years reign in_
Jerusalem _restor’d_, or in the new Jerusalem, _Dial. with_ Tryphon _the
Jew_. _According as the Prophets_ Ezekiel, _and_ Isaiah, _and others,
attest with common Consent_. As St. _Peter_ had said before, _Acts_ iii.
21. _That all the Prophets had spoken of it._ Then he quotes the lxvth
_Chapter_ of _Isaiah_, which is a Bulwark for this Doctrine, that never
can be broken. And to shew the _Jew_, with whom he had this Discourse,
that it was the Sense of our Prophets, as well as of theirs, he tells
him, that _a certain Man amongst us Christians, by Name_ John, _one of
the Apostles of Christ, in a Revelation made to him did prophesy, that
the faithful Believers in Christ should live a thousand Years in the_
New Jerusalem; _and after that should be the general Resurrection and
Day of Judgment_. Thus you have the Thoughts and Sentiments of _Justin
Martyr_, as to himself; as to all the reputed Orthodox of his Time; as
to the Sense of the Prophets in the Old Testament, and as to the Sense
of St. _John_ in the _Apocalypse_; all conspiring in Confirmation of the
millennary Doctrine.

To these three Witnesses, _Papias_, _Irenæus_ and _Justin Martyr_, we
may add two more within the second Age of the Church; _Melito_, Bishop
of _Sardis_, and St. _Barnabas_, or whosoever was the Author of the
Epistle under his Name. This _Melito_, by some, is thought to be the
Angel of the Church of _Sardis_, to whom St. _John_ directs the Epistle
to that Church, _Apoc._ iii. 1. but I do not take him to be so ancient;
however, he was Bishop of that Place, at least in the second Century,
and a Person of great Sanctity and Learning: He wrote many Books, as you
may see in St. _Jerome_; and, as he notes out of _Tertullian_, _was by
most Christians reputed a Prophet_ (_De Script. Eccles. Dogm. Eccl._ c.
lv.) He was also a declar’d _Millennary_, and is recorded as such, both
by _Jerome_ and _Gennadius_. As to the Epistle of _Barnabas_, which we
mention’d, it must be very ancient, whosoever is the Author of it, and
before the third Century; seeing it is often cited by _Clemens
Alexandrinus_, who was himself within the second Century: The Genius of
it is very much _Millennarian_, in the Interpretation of the _Sabbath_,
the _promis’d Land_, a _Day_ for a _thousand Years_, and concerning the
_Renovation of the World_. In all which, he follows the Footsteps of the
Orthodox of those Times; that is, of the _Millennarians_.

So much for the first and second Centuries of the Church. By which short
Account it appears, that the millennary Doctrine was _Orthodox_ and
_Catholick_ in those early Days; for these Authors do not set it down as
a private Opinion of their own, but as a _Christian Doctrine_, or an
_Apostolical Tradition_. ’Tis remarkable what _Papias_ says of himself,
and his way of Learning, in his Book call’d, _The Explanation of the
Words of the Lord_, as St. _Jerome_ gives an Account of it: (_De Script.
Eccles._) He says in his Preface, _He did not follow various Opinions,
but had the Apostles for his Authors: And that he consider’d what_
Andrew, _and what_ Peter _said; what_ Philip, _what_ Thomas, _and other
Disciples of the Lord; as also what_ Aristion, _and_ John _the Senior,
Disciples of the Lord, what they spoke. And that he did not profit so
much by reading Books, as by the living Voice of these Persons, which
resounded from them to that Day._ This hath very much the Air of Truth
and Sincerity, and of a Man that, in good earnest, sought after the
Christian Doctrine, from those that were the most authentick Teachers of
it. I know _Eusebius_, in his _Ecclesiastical History_, gives a double
Character of this _Papias_; in one Place he calls him, _A very eloquent
Man in all Things, and skilful in Scripture_; and in another, he makes
him a Man of a _small Understanding_, (_Vid._ Hieron. _Epist._ 28. _ad_
Lucinium.) But what Reason there is to suspect _Eusebius_ of Partiality
in this Point of the _Millennium_, we shall make appear hereafter.
However, we do not depend upon the Learning of _Papias_, or the Depth of
his Understanding; allow him but to be an honest Man and a fair Witness,
and ’tis all we desire. And we have little reason to question his
Testimony in this Point, seeing it is back’d by others of good Credit;
and all because there is no Counter-Evidence, nor any Witness that
appears against him: For there is not extant, either the Writing, Name,
or Memory, of any Person that contested this Doctrine in the first or
second Century: I say, that call’d in question this millennary Doctrine,
propos’d after a Christian Manner, unless such Hereticks as denied the
Resurrection wholly, or such Christians as deny’d the Divine Authority
of the _Apocalypse_.

We proceed now to the third Century; where you find _Tertullian_,
_Origen_, _Victorinus_, Bishop and Martyr; _Nepos Ægyptius_, _Cyprian_,
and, at the End of it, _Lactantius_; all openly professing, or
implicitly favouring, the millennary Doctrine. We do not mention
_Clemens Alexandrinus_, contemporary with _Tertullian_, because he hath
not any thing, that I know of, expresly either for, or against the
_Millennium_: But he takes notice that the _Seventh Day_ hath been
accounted _Sacred_, both by the _Hebrews_ and _Greeks_, because of the
_Revolution_ of the _World_, and the _Renovation of all Things_. And
giving this as a Reason why they kept that Day _holy_, seeing there is
not a Revolution of the World, every seven Days, it can be in no other
Sense than as the _Seventh Day_ represents the _seventh Millennary_, in
which the Renovation of the World and the Kingdom of Christ, is to be.
As to _Tertullian_, St. _Jerome_ reckons him, in the first place,
amongst the _Latin Millennaries_. And tho’ his Book, about the _Hope_ of
the _Faithful_, as also that about _Paradise_, which should have given
us the greatest Light in this Affair, be both lost or suppress’d; yet
there are sufficient Indications of his millennary Opinion in his Tracts
against _Marcion_, and against _Hermogenes_. St. _Cyprian_ was
_Tertullian_’s Admirer, and inclines to the same Opinion, so far as one
can judge, in this particular; for his Period of _six thousand Years_,
and making the _seventh Millennary_ the consummation of all, is wholly
according to the Analogy of the millennary Doctrine. As to the two
Bishops, _Victorinus_ and _Nepos_, St. _Jerome_ vouches for them: The
Writings of the one are lost, and of the other so chang’d, that the
Sense of the Author does not appear there now. But _Lactantius_, whom we
nam’d in the last Place, does openly and profusely teach this Doctrine,
in his _Divine Institutions_, (Book vii.) and with the same Assurance
that he does other Parts of the Christian Doctrine; for he concludes
thus, speaking of the _Millennium_, _This is the Doctrine of the holy
Prophets, which we Christians follow; this is our Wisdom_, &c. Yet he
acknowledges there, that it was kept as a Mystery or Secret amongst the
Christians, lest the Heathens should make any perverse or odious
Interpretation of it. And for the same or like Reason, I believe, the
Book of the _Apocalypse_ was kept out of the Hands of the Vulgar for
some time, and not read publickly, lest it should be found to have
spoken too openly of the Fate of the _Roman_ Empire, or of this
millennial State.

So much for the first, second, and third Centuries of the Church: But by
our Conclusion, we engag’d to make out this Proof as far as the _Nicene
Council_, inclusively. The _Nicene Council_ was about the Year of Christ
325. and we may reasonably suppose _Lactantius_ was then living; at
least he came within the Time of _Constantine_’s Empire. But however,
the Fathers of that Council are themselves our Witnesses in this Point;
for in their _Ecclesiastical Forms_ or _Constitutions_, in the Chapter
_about the Providence of God_, and _about the World_, they speak thus:
_The World was made meaner, or less perfect, providentially; for God
foresaw that Man would Sin: Wherefore we expect new Heavens and a new
Earth, according to the holy Scriptures, at the Appearance and Kingdom
of the great God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ._ And then, as _Daniel_
says (chap. vii. 18.) _The Saints of the most High shall take the
Kingdom, and the Earth shall be pure, holy, the Land of the Living, not
of the Dead._ _Which_ David _foreseeing by the Eye of Faith_, cries out,
(_Psal._ xxvii. 13.) _I believe to see the good Things of the Lord, in
the Land of the Living. Our Saviour says, happy are the Meek, for they
shall inherit the Earth_, Mat. v. 5. _And the Prophet_ Isaiah _says_,
(Chap. xxvi. 6.) _the Feet of the meek and lowly shall tread upon it_.
So you see, according to the Judgment of these Fathers, there will be a
Kingdom of Christ upon Earth; and moreover, that it will be in the _new
Heavens_ and the _new Earth_: And, in both these Points, they cite the
Prophets, and our Saviour in Confirmation of them.

Thus we have discharg’d our Promise, and given you an account of the
Doctrine of the _Millennium_, or future Kingdom of Christ, throughout
the three first Ages of the Church, before any considerable Corruptions
were crept into the Christian Religion. And those Authorities of single
and successive Fathers, we have seal’d up all together, with the
Declaration of the _Nicene_ Fathers, in a Body. Those that think
Tradition a Rule of Faith, or a considerable Motive to it, will find it
hard to turn off the Force of these Testimonies: And those that do not
go so far, but yet have a Reverence for Antiquity and the Primitive
Church, will not easily produce better Authorities, more early, more
numerous, or more uncontradicted, for any Article that is not
fundamental: Yet these are but Seconds to the Prophets and Apostles, who
are truly the Principals in this Cause. I will leave them all together,
to be examin’d and weigh’d by the impartial Reader. And because they
seem to me to make a full and undeniable Proof, I will now, at the Foot
of the Account, set down our second Proposition, which is this, _That
there is a millennial State, or a future Kingdom of Christ and his
Saints, prophesied of and promised, in the Old and New Testament; and
receiv’d by the Primitive Church as a Christian and Catholick Doctrin._
(Propos. I.)

Having dispatch’d this main Point; to conclude the Chapter and this Head
of our Discourse, it will be some Satisfaction possibly to see, _How_ a
Doctrine so generally receiv’d and approv’d came to decay, and almost
wear out of the Church, in following Ages. The Christian millennary
Doctrine was not call’d into Question, so far as appears from History,
before the middle of the third Century; when _Dionysius Alexandrinus_
wrote against _Nepos_, an _Ægyptian_ Bishop, who had declar’d himself
upon that Subject. But we do not find that this Book had any great
Effect; for the Declaration or Constitution of the _Nicene Fathers_ was
after; and in St. _Jerome_’s Time, who wrote towards the End of the
fourth Century, this Doctrine had so much Credit, that he, who was its
greatest Adversary, yet durst not condemn it, as he says himself; _Quæ
licet non sequamur, tamen damnare non possumus; quia multi
Ecclesiasticorum virorum & martyres ista dixerunt: Which Things or
Doctrines_, speaking of the Millennium, _tho’ we do not follow, yet we
cannot condemn; because many of our Churchmen, and Martyrs have affirmed
these things_. And when _Apollinarius_ reply’d to that Book of
_Dionysius_, St. _Jerome_ says, that, _not only those of his own Sect,
but a great Multitude of other Christians did agree with_ Apollinarius
_in that particular: Ut presagâ mente jam cernam, quantorum in me rabies
concitanda sit; That now I foresee, how many will be enrag’d against me,
for what I have spoken against the millennary Doctrine_.

We may therefore conclude that in St. _Jerome_’s Time the Millennaries
made the greater Party in the Church; for a little Matter would not have
frighted him from censuring their Opinions. St. _Jerome_ was a rough and
rugged Saint, and an unfair Adversary, that usually run down with Heat
and Violence, what stood in his Way. As to his Unfairness, he shews it
sufficiently in this very Cause, for he generally represents the
millennary Doctrine after a _Judaical_, rather than a _Christian_
Manner. And in reckoning up the chief Patrons of it, he always skips
_Justin Martyr_; who was not a Man so obscure as to be over-look’d: And
he was a Man that had declar’d himself sufficiently upon this Point; for
he says, _Both himself and all the Orthodox of his time, were of that
Judgment_, and applies both the _Apocalypse_ of St. _John_, and the
lxvth Chapter of _Isaiah_, for the Proof of it; as we noted before.

As St. _Jerome_ was an open Enemy to this Doctrine, so _Eusebius_ was a
back Friend to it; and represented every thing to its Disadvantage, so
far as was tolerably consistent with the Fairness of an Historian. He
gives a slight Character of _Papias_, without any Authority for it; and
brings in one _Gaius_, that makes _Cerinthus_ to be the Author of the
_Apocalypse_ and of the _Millennium_ (_Eccles. Hist._ _l._ iii. _c._
32.) and calls the Visions there, Τερετολογίας, _monstrous Stories_. He
himself is willing to shuffle off that Book from _John_ the _Evangelist_
to another _John_ a _Presbyter_; and to shew his Skill in the
Interpretation of it, (_l._ 3. _c._ 32. _de vit. Constan._) he makes the
_new Jerusalem_ in the xxith Chapter to be _Constantine’s Jerusalem_,
when he turn’d the Heathen Temples there into Christian: A wonderful
Invention. As St. _Jerome_ by his Flouts, so _Eusebius_, by sinister
Insinuations, endeavour’d to lessen the Reputation of this Doctrine; and
the Art they both us’d was, to misrepresent it as _Judaical_. But we
must not cast off every Doctrine which the _Jews_ believ’d, only for
that Reason; for we have the same Oracles which they had, and the same
Prophets; and they have collected from them the same general Doctrine
that we have, namely, that _there will be an happy and pacifick State of
the Church, in future Times_. But as to the Circumstances of this State
we differ very much: They suppose the _Mosaical_ Law will be restor’d,
with all its Pomp, Rites, and Ceremonies: whereas we suppose the
Christian Worship, or something more perfect, will then take Place. Yet
St. _Jerome_ has the Confidence, even there where he speaks of the many
Christian Clergy and Martyrs that held this Doctrine; has the
Confidence, I say, to represent it, as if they held that _Circumcision_,
_Sacrifices_, and all the _Judaical_ Rites, should then be restor’d.
Which seems to me to be a great Slander, and a great Instance how far
Mens Passions will carry them, in misrepresenting an Opinion, which they
have a Mind to disgrace.

But as we have Reason to blame the Partiality of those that opposed this
Doctrine; so, on the other Hand, we cannot excuse the Patrons of it from
all Indiscretions. I believe they might partly themselves make it
obnoxious; by mixing some things with it, from pretended Traditions, or
the Books of the _Sybills_, or other private Authorities, that had so
sufficient warrant from Scripture; and things, sometimes, that Nature
would not easily bear. Besides, in latter Ages, they seem to have dropt
one half of the Doctrine, namely, the _Renovation of Nature_, which
_Irenæus_, _Justin Martyr_, and the Antients, join inseparably with the
_Millennium_: And by this Omission, the Doctrine hath been made less
intelligible, and one Part of it inconsistent with another. And when
their Pretensions were to reign upon this present Earth, and in this
present State of Nature, it gave a Jealousy to temporal Princes, and
gave occasion likewise to many of Fanatical Spirits, under the Notion of
Saints, to aspire to Dominion, after a violent and tumultuary Manner.
This I reckon as one great Cause that brought the Doctrine into
Discredit. But I hope by reducing of it to the true State, we shall cure
this and other Abuses for the future.

Lastly, It never pleas’d the Church of _Rome_; and so far as the
Influence and Authority of that would go, you may be sure it would be
depress’d and discountenanced. I never yet met with a Popish Doctor that
held the _Millennium_; and _Baronius_ would have it to pass for an
Heresy, and _Papias_ for the Inventor of it; whereas, if _Irenæus_ may
be credited, it was receiv’d from St. _John_, and by him from the Mouth
of our Saviour. And neither St. _Jerome_, nor his friend Pope _Damasus_,
durst ever condemn it for an _Heresy_. It was always indeed uneasy, and
gave Offence to the Church of _Rome_; because it does not suit to that
Scheme of Christianity, which they have drawn. They suppose Christ
reigns already, by his Vicar, the Pope; and treads upon the Necks of
Emperors and Kings: And if they could but suppress the _Northern
Heresy_, as they call it, they do not know what a _Millennium_ would
signify, or how the Church could be in an happier Condition than she is.
The _Apocalyse_ of St. _John_ does suppose the true Church under
hardship and Persecution, more or less, for the greatest Part of the
Christian Ages; namely, for 1260 Years, while the Witnesses are in
sack-cloth. But the Church of _Rome_ hath been in prosperity and
Greatness, and the commanding Church in Christendom, for so long, or
longer, and hath rul’d the Nations with a Rod of Iron; so as that Mark
of the true Church does not favour her at all. And the _Millennium_
being properly a Reward and Triumph for those that come out of
Persecution, such as have liv’d always in Pomp and Prosperity, can
pretend to no Share in it, or Benefit by it. This has made the Church of
_Rome_ have always an ill Eye upon this Doctrine, because it seem’d to
have an ill Eye upon her; And as she grew in Splendor and Greatness, she
eclips’d and obscur’d it more and more; so that it would have been lost
out of the World as an obsolete Error, it it had not been revived by
some of the Reformation.




                               CHAP. VII.


    _The true State of the Millennium, according to Characters taken
    from Scripture; some Mistakes concerning it examin’d._


We have made sufficient Proof of a millennial State, from Scripture and
Antiquity; and upon that firm Basis have settled our second Proposition.
We should now determine the _Time_ and _Place_ of this future Kingdom of
Christ: not whether it is to be in Heaven, or upon Earth; for that we
suppose determin’d already; but whether it is to be in the present
Earth, and under the present Constitution of Nature, or in the _new
Heavens_, and _new Earth_, which are promis’d after the _Conflagration_:
This is to make our _third Proposition_: And I should have proceeded
immediately to the Examination of it, but that I imagine it will give us
some Light in this Affair, if we enquire farther into the true State of
the _Millennium_, before we determine its Time and Place.

We have already noted some _moral_ Characters of the millennial State;
and the great _natural_ Character of it is this in general, that it will
be _Paradisaical_; free from all Inconveniencies, either of external
Nature, or of our own Bodies. For my part, I do not understand, how
there can be any considerable Degree of Happiness without _Indolency_;
nor how there can be _Indolency_, while we have such Bodies as we have
now, and such an external Constitution of Nature. And as there must be
_Indolency_, where there is Happiness; so there must not be _Indigency_,
or want of any due Comforts of Life: For where there is _Indigency_,
there is Solicitude, and Distraction, and Uneasiness, and Fear; Passions
that do as naturally disquiet the Soul, as Pain does the Body. Therefore
Indolency and Plenty seem to be two essential Ingredients of every happy
State; and these two, in Conjunction, make that State we call
_Paradisaical_.

Now the Scripture seems plainly to exempt the Sons of the _new
Jerusalem_, or of the _Millennium_, from all _Pain_ or _Want_, in those
Words, _Apoc._ xxi. 4. _And God shall wipe away all Tears from their
Eyes: And there shall be no more Death, neither Sorrow, nor crying;
neither shall there be any more Pain: For the former Things are passed
away._ And the Lord of that Kingdom, _He that sat upon the Throne_,
said, _Behold I make all Things new_, ver. 5. This Renovation is a
Restauration to some former State; and I hope, not that State of
Indigency and Misery, and Diseasedness, which we languish under at
present; but to that pristine _Paradisaical_ State, which was the
Blessing of the first Heavens and the first Earth.

As Health and Plenty are the Blessings of Nature; so, in Civil Affairs,
_Peace_ is the greatest Blessing: And this is inseparably annex’d to the
_Millennium_; an indelible Character of the Kingdom of Christ. And by
_Peace_, we understand not only Freedom from Persecution upon religious
Accounts, but that _Nation shall not rise up against Nation_, upon any
Account whatsoever. That bloody Monster, _War_, that hath devoured so
many Millions of the Sons of _Adam_, is now at length to be chain’d up;
and the Furies, that run throughout the Earth, with their Snakes and
Torches, shall be thrown into the Abyss, to sting and prey upon one
another: All evil and mischievous Passions shall be extinguished; and
that not in Men only, but even in brute Creatures, according to the
Prophets. _The Lamb and the Lion shall lie down together, and the
sucking Child shall play with the Basilisk._ Happy Days, when not only
the Temple of _Janus_ shall be shut up for a thousand Years, and the
_Nations shall beat their Swords into Plowshares_; but all Enmities and
Antipathies shall cease, all Acts of Hostility, throughout all Nature.
And this universal Peace is a Demonstration also of the former
Character, _universal Plenty_; for where there is a Want and
Necessitousness, there will be quarrelling.

Fourthly, ’Tis a Kingdom of Righteousness, as well as of Peace: these
also must go together: For unrighteous Persons will not live long in
Peace, no more than indigent Persons. The _Psalmist_ therefore joins
them together; and _Plenty_, also, as their necessary Preservative, in
his Description of the Kingdom of Christ, _Psal._ lxxxv. 10, 11, 12.
_Mercy and Truth are met together: Righteousness and Peace have kissed
each other. Truth shall spring out of the Earth, and Righteousness shall
look down from Heaven. Yea, the Lord shall give good, and our Land shall
yield her Increase._ This will not be a Medley-State, as the present
World is, good and bad mingled together; but _a chosen Generation_, _a
royal Priesthood_, _an holy Nation_, _a peculiar People_. Those that
have a Part in the first Resurrection, the Scripture pronounceth them
_Holy_ and _Blessed_; and says, _The second Death shall have no Power
over them._ Satan is also bound and shut up in the bottomless Pit, and
has no Liberty of tempting or seducing this People, for a thousand
Years: but at the End of that Time, he will meet with a degenerate Crew,
separate and Aliens to the holy City, that will make War against it, and
perish in the Attempt. In a word, those that are to enjoy this State,
are always distinguish’d from the Multitude, as People redeemed from the
Earth, (_Apoc._ v. 9.) that have wash’d their Robes, and made them white
in the Blood of the Lamb; and are represented as Victors over the World;
with such other Characters as are incompatible to any but the Righteous,
_ch._ vii. 14. _ch._ xiv. 3, 4. _ch._ xxi. 27.

Fifthly, This will be a State under a peculiar divine Presence and
Conduct. It is not easy indeed to determine the Manner of this Presence;
but the Scripture plainly implies some extraordinary divine Presence to
enlighten and enliven that State. When the _new Jerusalem_ was come
down, St. _John_ says, _Apoc._ xxi. 3. _And I heard a great voice out of
Heaven, saying, behold the Tabernacle of God is with Men; and he will
dwell with them, and they shall be his People; and God himself shall be
with them, and be their God._ And the like is promis’d to the
Palm-bearing Company, _ch._ vii. 19. where they are admitted to the
Privileges of the _new Jerusalem_. When our Saviour was incarnate, and
vouchsafed to dwell amongst the Children of Men, the same Phrase is us’d
by this same Author, ἐσχήνωσε. _Joh._ i. 14. _The Word was made Flesh,
and tabernacled amongst us; and we beheld his Glory_, &c. We read it,
_He dwelt amongst us_, but render’d more closely, it is, _He_ set his
_Tabernacle amongst us_. And that which the _Hebrews_ call the שכינה
_Shekinah_, or _divine Presence_, _Maimon. Mor. Nev. par._ 1. _c._ 25
comes from a Word of the like Signification and Sound with the _Greek_
Word here us’d. Therefore there will be a _Shekinah_ in that Kingdom of
Christ; but as to the Mode of it, I am very willing to confess my
Ignorance.

The last Character that belongs to this State, or rather to those that
enjoy it, is, that they are _Kings and Priests unto God_. This is a
Character often repeated in Scripture, and therefore the more to be
regarded. It occurs thrice in the _Apocalypse_ in formal Terms, _ch._ i.
6. _ch._ v. 10. _ch._ xx. 6. And as to the Regal Dignity apart, that is
farther exprest, either by the _Donation of a Kingdom_, as in _Daniel_’s
Phrase, _chap._ vii. 18, 22, 27. Or by _placing upon Thrones_, with a
judicial Power; which is the New Testament Style, _Mat._ xix. 28. _Luke_
xxii. 29, 30. _Rev._ xx. 4. These two Titles, no doubt, are intended to
comprehend the highest Honours that we are capable of; these being the
highest Dignities in every Kingdom; and such as were by the Antients,
both in the _East_ and in the _West_, commonly united in one and the
same Person; Their Kings being Priests, like _Melchisedeck_, or, as the
_Roman_ Emperor was, _Pontifex Maximus_. But as to the sacerdotal
Character, that seems chiefly to respect the Temper of the Mind; to
signify a People dedicated to God and his Service, separate from the
World, and from secular Affairs, spending their time in Devotion and
Contemplation, which will be the great Employments of that happy State.
For where there is Ease, Peace, and Plenty of all Things, refin’d
Bodies, and purified Minds, there will be more Inclination to
intellectual Exercises and Entertainments; which they may attend upon,
without any Distraction, having neither Want, Pain, nor worldly
Business.

The Title of _King_ implies a Confluence of all Things that constitute
temporal Happiness. ’Tis the highest thing we can wish any in this
World, to be a King; So as the _Regal_ Dignity seems to comprehend all
the Goods of Fortune, or external Felicity, and the _Sacerdotal_, the
Goods of the Mind, or internal; both which concur in the Constitution of
true Happiness. There is also a further Force and Emphasis in this
Notion _of the Saints being made Kings_, if we consider it
_comparatively_, with respect to what they were before in this World;
where they were not only mean and despicable, in Subjection and
Servility, but often under Persecution, abus’d and trampled upon by the
Secular and Ecclesiastical Powers. But now the Scene is chang’d, and you
see the reverse of Providence, according as _Abraham_ said to the
Rich-Man; _Son, remember that thou in thy Life time receivedst thy good
things, and likewise_ Lazarus _evil things: But now he is comforted, and
thou art tormented._ Now they are set upon Thrones and Tribunals, who
were before arraigned as Criminals, and brought before tyrannical
Judicatures: They are now Laws and Law-givers to themselves, in a true
State of Royal Liberty, neither under the Domination of evil Men, nor of
their own evil Passions.

Some possibly may think, that this high Character of _being made
Priests_ and _Kings to God_, is not general to all that enjoy the
_Millennium_; but a Prerogative belonging to the Apostles and some of
the chief Martyrs, who are eminently rewarded for their eminent
Services. But Scripture as far as I perceive, applies it to all that
inherit that Kingdom. _The redeemed out of every Kindred, and Tongue,
and People, and Nation_, are made _Kings and Priests to God, and shall
reign on the Earth_, Apoc. v. 9, 10, And in the xxth _chap. ver._ 6. all
the Sons of the first Resurrection are made _Priests of God, and shall
reign with him a thousand Years_. Here is no Distinction or
Discrimination thus far: Not that we suppose an unversal Equality of
Conditions in the millennial State; but as to all these Characters which
we have given of it, I do not perceive that they are restrain’d or
confin’d by Scripture to single Persons, but make the general Happiness
of that State, and are the Portion of every one that is admitted into
the _new Jerusalem_.

Others possibly may think that this Privilege of the _first
Resurrection_ is not common to all that enjoy the millennial State. For
tho’ St. _John_, who is the only Person that hath made express mention
of the _first Resurrection_, and of the _thousand Years Reign of_
Christ, does join these two as the same thing, and common to the same
Persons; yet I know there are some that would distinguish them as things
of a different Extent, and also of a different Nature. They suppose the
Martyrs only will rise from the Dead, and will be immediately translated
into Heaven, and there pass their _Millennium_ in celestial Glory; while
the Church is still here below, in her _Millennium_, such as it is: A
State indeed better than ordinary, and free from Persecution, but
obnoxious to all the Inconveniences of our present mortal Life, and a
Medley of good and bad People, without Separation. This is such an Idea
of the _Millennium_, as, to my Eye, hath neither Beauty in it, nor
Foundation in Scripture. That the Citizens of the _new Jerusalem_ are
not a miscellaneous Company, but a Community of righteous Persons, we
have noted before, and that the State of Nature will be better than it
is at present. But, besides this, what Warrant have they for this
Ascension of the Martyrs into Heaven at that Time? Where do we read of
that in Scripture? And in those things that are not Matters of natural
Order, but of divine Oeconomy, we ought to be very careful how we add to
Scripture.

The Scripture speaks only of the Resurrection of the Martyrs, _Apoc._
xx. 45. but not a Word concerning their Ascension into Heaven. Will that
be visible? We read of our Saviour’s Resurrection and Ascension, and
therefore we have Reason to affirm them both. We read also of the
Resurrection and Ascension of the _Witnesses_, (_Apoc._ xi.) in a
figurative Sense; and in that Sense we may assert them upon good
Grounds. But as to the Martyrs, we read of their Resurrection only,
without any thing exprest or imply’d about their Ascension. By what
Authority then shall we add this new Notion to the History or Scheme of
the _Millennium_? The Scripture, on the contrary, makes mention of the
Descent of the _new Jerusalem_, _Apoc._ xxi. 2. making the Earth the
Theatre of all that Affair: And the Camp of the Saints is upon the
Earth, _ver._ 9. and these Saints are the same Persons, so far as can be
collected from the Text, that rose _from the Dead, and reign’d with
Christ_, and were _Priests to God_, _ver._ 4, 5, 6. Neither is there any
Distinction made, that I find, by St. _John_, of two sorts of Saints in
the _Millennium_, the one in Heaven, and the other upon Earth. Lastly,
the four and twenty Elders, _chap._ v. 10. tho’ they were _Kings_ and
_Priests unto God_, were content to reign upon Earth. Now who can you
suppose of a superior Order to these four and twenty Elders? Whether
they represent the twelve Patriarchs and twelve Apostles, or whomsoever
they represent, they are plac’d next to him that sits upon the Throne,
and they have Crowns of Gold upon their Heads, _chap._ iv. 4. _ch._ xi.
16. There can be no Marks of Honour and Dignity greater than these are;
and therefore seeing these highest Dignitaries in the Millennium or
future Kingdom of Christ, are to reign upon Earth, there is no Ground to
suppose the Assumption of any other into Heaven, upon that Account, or
upon that Occasion.

This is a short and general Draught of the millennial State, or future
Reign of the Saints, according to Scripture. Wherein I have endeavour’d
to rectify some Mistakes or Misconceptions about it; that viewing it in
its true Nature, we may be the better able to judge, when and where it
will obtain: which is the next Thing to be consider’d.




                              CHAP. VIII.


    _The third Proposition laid down, concerning the Time and Place of
    the_ Millennium: _Several Arguments us’d, to prove, that it cannot
    be till after the Conflagration; and that the new Heavens and the
    new Earth are the true Seat of the blessed_ Millennium.


We now come to the third and last Head of our Discourse; to determine
the _Time_ and _Place_ of the _Millennium_. And seeing it is
indifferent, whether the Proofs lead or follow the Conclusion, we will
lay down the Conclusion in the first Place, that our Business may be
more in View; and back it with Proofs in the following Part of the
Chapter. Our third and last Proposition therefore is this, _That the
blessed Millennium, Propos. 3._ (properly so called) _according as it is
describ’d in Scripture, cannot obtain in the present Earth, nor under
the present Constitution of Nature and Providence; but it is to be
celebrated in the new Heavens and new Earth, after the Conflagration._
This Proposition it may be, will seem a Paradox or Singularity to many,
even of those that believe a _Millennium_: We will therefore make it the
Business of this Chapter, to state it, and prove it, by such Arguments
as are manifestly founded in Scripture and in Reason.

And to prevent Mistakes, we must premise this in the first Place; that
tho’ the blessed _Millennium_ will not be in this Earth; yet we allow
that the State of the Church here, will grow much better than it is at
present. There will be a better Idea of Christianity, and according to
the Prophecies, a full _Resurrection of the Witnesses_, and an
_Ascension_ into Power, and the tenth Part of the City will fall; which
things imply ease from Persecution, the Conversion of some Part of the
Christian World to the reformed Faith, and a considerable Diminution of
the Power of Antichrist. But this still comes short of the Happiness and
Glory wherein the future Kingdom of Christ is represented; which cannot
come to pass till the _Man of Sin_ be destroyed, with a total
Destruction. After the Resurrection of the Witnesses, there is a third
_WOE_ yet to come; and how long that will last, does not appear. If it
bear proportion with the preceeding _WOES_, it may last some hundreds of
Years. And we cannot imagine the _Millennium_ to begin till that _WOE_
be finished: As neither till the _Vials_ be pour’d out, in the xvth
_chap._ which cannot be all pour’d out till after the Resurrection of
the Witnesses; those _Vials_ being the last Plagues that compleat the
Destruction of Antichrist. Wherefore allowing that the Church, upon the
Resurrection and Ascension of the Witnesses, will be advanc’d into a
better Condition, yet that Condition cannot be the millennial State;
where the Beast is utterly destroy’d, and Satan bound, and cast into the
bottomless Pit.

This being premis’d, let us now examine what Grounds there are for the
Translation of that blessed State into the _new Heavens_ and _new
Earth_; seeing that Thought, it may be, to many Persons, will appear new
and extraordinary. In the first Place, we suppose it out of Dispute,
that there will be _new Heavens_ and a _new Earth_ after the
Conflagration. This was our first Proposition, and we depend upon it, as
sufficiently prov’d both from Scripture and Antiquity. This being
admitted, how will you flock this _new Earth_? What use will you put it
to? ’Twill be a much nobler Earth, and better built than the present;
and ’tis a pity it should only float about, empty and useless in the
wild Air. If you will not make it the Seat and Habitation of the Just in
the blessed _Millennium_, what will you make it? How will it turn to
Account? What hath Providence design’d it for? We must not suppose new
Worlds made without Counsel or Design. And as, on the one Hand, you
cannot tell what to do with this new Creation, if it be not thus
employ’d; so, on the other Hand, it is every way fitted and suited to be
an happy and _paradisaical_ Habitation, and answers all the natural
Characters of the millennial State; which is a great Presumption that it
is design’d for it.

But to argue this more closely upon Scripture-grounds: St. _Peter_ says,
the Righteous shall inhabit the new Heavens and the new Earth: 2 _Pet._
iii. 13. _Nevertheless, according to his Promise, we look for new
Heavens and new Earth_, WHEREIN DWELLETH RIGHTEOUSNESS: that is, a
righteous People, as we have shewn before. But who are these righteous
People? That’s the great Question. If you compare St. _Peter_’s new
Heavens and new Earth with St. _John_’s _Apoc._ xxi. 1, 2. it will go
far towards the Resolution of this Question: For St. _John_ seems
plainly to make the Inhabitants of the _new Jerusalem_ to be in this
_new Earth_. _I saw_, says he, _new Heavens and a new Earth_, and the
_new Jerusalem descending from God out of Heaven_; therefore descending
into this _new Earth_, which he had mention’d immediately before. And
there _the Tabernacle of God was with Men_, _ver._ 3. and there he that
sat upon the Throne, said, _Behold I make all Things new._ Referring
still to the new Heavens and new Earth, as the Theatre where all these
Things are acted, or all these Scenes exhibited; from the first Verse to
the eighth: Now the _new Jerusalem_ State being the same with the
Millennial, if the one be in the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_, the
other is there also. And this Interpretation of St. _John_’s Word is
confirm’d and fully assur’d to us by the Prophet _Isaiah_; who also
placeth the Joy and Rejoicing of the _new Jerusalem_ in the new Heavens
and new Earth, Chap. lxv. 17, 18. _For behold I create new Heavens and a
new Earth; and the former shall not be remembred: but be you glad and
rejoice for ever in that which I create; for behold, I create_ Jerusalem
_a Rejoicing, and her People a Joy_: Namely, in that new Heavens and new
Earth; which answers to St. _John_’s Vision of the new _Jerusalem_ being
let down upon the new Earth.

To these Reasons, and Deductions from Scripture, we might add the
Testimony of several of the Fathers; I mean of those that were
Millennaries: For we are speaking now to such as believe the
_Millennium_, but place it in the present Earth before the Renovation;
whereas the antient _Millennaries_ suppos’d the Regeneration and
Renovation of the World before the Kingdom of Christ came: As you may
see in [1]_Irenæus_, [2]_Justin Martyr_, [3]_Tertullian_,
[4]_Lactantius_, and [5]the Author _ad Orthodoxos_. And the Neglect of
this, I look upon as one Reason, as we noted before, that brought that
Doctrine into Discredit and Decay. For when they plac’d the Kingdom of
the Saints upon this Earth, it became more capable of being abus’d, by
fanatical Spirits, to the Disturbance of the World, and the Invasion of
the Rights of the Magistrates, Civil or Ecclesiastical, under that
Notion of Saints; and made them also dream of sensual Pleasures, such as
they see in this Life: Or at least gave an Occasion and Opportunity to
those, that had a Mind to make the Doctrine odious, of charging it with
these Consequences. All these Abuses are cut off, and these Scandals
prevented, by placing the Millennium aright: Namely, not in this present
Life, or on this present Earth, but in the new Creation, where Peace and
Righteousness will dwell. And this is our first Argument why we place
the Millennium in the new Heavens and new Earth; and ’tis taken partly,
you see, from the Reason of the Thing itself, the Difficulty of
assigning any other use of the new Earth, and its fitness for this; and
partly from Scripture-evidence, and partly from Antiquity.

The second Argument for our Opinion, is this; the present Constitution
of Nature will not bear that Happiness, that is promis’d in the
Millennium, or is not consistent with it. The Diseases of our Bodies,
the Disorders of our Passions, the Incommodiousness of external Nature;
Indigency, Servility, and the Unpeaceableness of the World; these are
things inconsistent with the Happiness that is promis’d in the Kingdom
of Christ. But these are constant Attendants upon this Life, and
inseparable from the present State of Nature. Suppose the Millennium was
to begin nine or ten Years hence, as some pretend it will; how shall
this World, all of a sudden, be metamorphos’d into that happy State?
_Apoc._ xxi. 4. No more _Sorrow, nor crying, nor Pain, nor Death_, says
St. _John_: _All former Things are past away._ But how past away? Shall
we not have the same Bodies; and the same external Nature; and the same
Corruptions of the Air; and the same Excesses and Intemperature of
Seasons? Will there not be the same Barrenness of the Ground, the same
Number of People to be fed; and must they not get their living by the
Sweat of their Brows, with servile Labour and Drudgery? How then are all
former Evils past away? And as to publick Affairs, while there are the
same Necessities of human Life, and a Distinction of Nations, those
Nations sometimes will have contrary Interests, will clash and interfere
one with another; whence Differences, and Contests, and Wars will arise,
and the _thousand Years Truce_, I am afraid, will be often broken. We
might add also, that if our Bodies be not chang’d, we shall be subject
to the same Appetites, and the same Passions; and upon those Vices will
grow, as bad Fruit upon a bad Tree: To conclude, so long as our Bodies
are the same, external Nature the same, the Necessities of human Life
the same; which things are the Roots of Evil; you may call it a
_Millennium_, or what you please, but there will be still Diseases,
Vices, Wars, Tears and Cries, Pain and Sorrow in this _Millennium_; and
if so, ’tis a _Millennium_ of your own making, for that which the
Prophets describe, is quite another thing.

Farthermore, if you suppose the Millennium will be upon this Earth, and
begin, it may be, ten or twenty Years hence, how will it be introduc’d?
How shall we know when we are in it, or when we enter upon it? If we
continue the same, and all Nature continue the same, we shall not
discern when we slip into the Millennium. And as to the moral State of
it, shall we all, on a sudden, _become Kings and Priests to God_?
Wherein will that Change consist, and how will it be wrought? St. _John_
makes the _first Resurrection_ introduce the Millennium; and that’s a
conspicuous Mark and Boundary: But as to the modern or vulgar
Millennium, I know not how ’tis usher’d in. Whether they suppose a
visible Resurrection of the Martyrs, and a visible Ascension; and that
to be a Signal to all the World that the Jubilee is beginning; or
whether ’tis gradual, and creeps upon us insensibly; or the Fall of the
Beast marks it: These things need both Explication and Proof: for to me
they seem either arbitrary or unintelligible.

But to pursue our Design and Subject: That which gives me the greatest
Scandal in this Doctrine of the vulgar Millennium, is their joining
Things together that are really inconsistent; a natural World of one
Colour, and a moral World of another. They will make us happy in spight
of Nature; as the _Stoicks_ would make a Man happy in _Phalaris his
Bull_; so must the Saints be in full Bliss in the Millennium, tho’ they
be under a Fit of the Gout, or the Stone. For my part, I could never
reconcile Pain to Happiness; it seems to me to destroy and drown all
Pleasure, as a loud Noise does a still Voice: It affects the Nerves with
Violence, and over-bears all other Motions. But if, according to this
modern Supposition, they have the same Bodies, and breath the same Air
in the Millennium, as we do now, there will be both private and
epidemical Distempers, in the same Manner as now. Suppose then a Plague
comes and sweeps away half an hundred thousand Saints in the Millennium,
is this no Prejudice or Dishonour to the State? Or a War makes a Nation
desolate; or, in single Persons, a lingring Disease makes Life a
Burthen; or a burning Fever, or a violent Cholick tortures them to
Death; where such Evils as these reign, christen the thing what you
will, it can be no better than a Mock-Millennium. Nor shall I ever be
persuaded that such a State as our present Life, where an aking Tooth,
or an aking Head, does so discompose the Soul, as to make her unfit for
Business, Study, Devotion, or any useful Employment; and that all the
Powers of the Mind, all its Virtue, and all its Wisdom, are not able to
stop these little Motions, or to support them with Tranquillity: I can
never persuade my self, I say, that such a State was design’d by God or
Nature, for a State of Happiness.

Our third Argument is this; the future Kingdom of Christ will not take
place, till the Kingdom of Antichrist be wholly destroy’d: But that will
not be wholly destroy’d till the End of the World, and the appearing of
our Saviour; therefore the Millennium will not be till then. Christ and
Antichrist cannot reign upon Earth together; their Kingdoms are
opposite, as Light and Darkness: Besides, the Kingdom of Christ is
universal, extends to all the Nations, and leaves no room for other
Kingdoms at that time. Thus it is describ’d in _Daniel_, in the Place
mention’d before, _chap._ vii. 13, 14. _I saw in the Night Visions, and
behold, one like the Son of Man, came with the Clouds of Heaven, and
came to the Ancient of Days; and there was given him Dominion and Glory,
and a Kingdom; that all People, Nations, and Languages, should serve
him._ And again ver. 27. _And the Kingdom and Dominion, and the
Greatness of the Kingdom under the whole Heaven, shall be given to the
People of the Saints of the most High; whose Kingdom is an everlasting
Kingdom, and all Dominion shall serve and obey him._ The same Character
of Universality is given to the Kingdom of Christ by _David_, _Psal._
ii. and _Psal._ lxxii. _Isaiah_ ii. 2. and other Prophets. But the most
direct Proof of this, is from the _Apocalypse_, where the _Beast_ and
_false Prophet_ are thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, (_chap._
xix. 20.) before the Millennium comes on, _chap._ xx. This, _being cast
into a Lake of Fire burning with Brimstone_, must needs signify utter
Destruction: Not a Diminution of Power only, but a total Perdition and
Consumption. And that this was before the Millennium, of the Beast and
false Prophets being in the Lake of Fire, as of a Thing past, and
formerly transacted. For when Satan, at length, is thrown into the same
Lake ’tis said, he is thrown into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone, _where
the Beast and the false Prophets are_, Apoc. xx. 10. They were there
before, it seems; namely, at the beginning of the Millennium; and now at
the Conclusion of it, the Devil is thrown in to them: Besides, the
Ligation of Satan proves this Point effectually; for so long as
Antichrist reigns, Satan cannot be said to be bound; but he is bound at
the Beginning of the Millennium, therefore Antichrist’s Reign was then
totally expir’d. Lastly, the Destruction of _Babylon_, and the
Destruction of Antichrist go together; but you see _Babylon_ utterly and
finally destroy’d, (_Apoc._ xviii. and xix.) before the Millennium comes
on: I say, _utterly and finally destroy’d_. For she is not only said to
be made an utter Desolation, but to be consum’d by Fire; and absorpt as
a Millstone thrown into the Sea; and that he shall be found no more at
all, _chap._ xviii. 21. Nothing can express a total and universal
Destruction more effectually, or more emphatically. And this is before
the Millennium begins; as you may see both by the Order of the
Prophesies, and particularly, in that upon this Destruction, the
_Hallelujah_’s are sung, _ch._ xix. and concluded thus, _ver._ 6, 7.
_Hallelujah, for the God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and
rejoice, and give Honour to him; for the Marriage of the Lamb is come,
and his Wife hath made her self ready._ This, I suppose, every one
allows to be the millennial State, which now approaches, and is making
ready, upon the Destruction of _Babylon_.

Thus much for the first Part of our Argument, that the Kingdom of Christ
will not take place, till the Kingdom of Antichrist be wholly destroy’d.
We are now to prove the second Part, that the Kingdom of Antichrist will
not be wholly destroy’d till the End of the World, and the coming of our
Saviour. This, one would think, is sufficiently prov’d from St. _Paul_’s
Words alone, _2 Thess._ ii. 8. _The Lord shall consume the Man of Sin_,
who is suppos’d the same with Antichrist, _with the Spirit of his Mouth,
and shall destroy him with the Brightness of his coming_. He will not
then be destroyed before the coming of our Saviour; and that will not be
till the End of the World. For St. _Peter_ says, _Acts_ iii. 21. _The
Heaven must receive him_, speaking of Christ, _until the Times of
Restitution of all things_; that is, the Renovation of the World. And if
we consider that our Saviour’s coming will be in _Flames of Fire_, as
the same Apostle St. _Paul_ tells us, _2 Thess._ i. 7, 8. ’tis plain,
that his coming will not be till the Conflagration; in which last Flames
Antichrist will be universally destroy’d. This Manner of Destruction
agrees also with the _Apocalypse_ and with _Daniel_, and the Prophets of
the Old Testament. As to the _Apocalypse_, _Babylon_, the Seat of
Antichrist, is represented there as destroy’d by Fire, _ch._ xviii. 8,
18. _ch._ xiv. 11. _ch._ xix. 3, 20. And in _Daniel_, when the Beast is
destroy’d, _ch._ vii. 11. _His Body was given to the burning Flame._
Then as to the other Prophets, they do not, you know, speak of
Antichrist or the Beast in Terms, but under the Types of _Babylon_,
_Tyre_, and such-like; and these Places or Princes are represented by
them as to be destroy’d by Fire, _Isa._ xiii. 19. _Jer._ ii. 25. _Ezek._
xxviii. 18.

So much for this third Argument; the fourth Argument is this; the future
Kingdom of Christ will not be till the Day of Judgment and the
Resurrection; but that will not be till the End of the World: Therefore,
neither the Kingdom of Christ. By the Day of Judgment here, I do not
mean the final and universal Judgment; nor by the Resurrection, the
final and universal Resurrection; for these will not be till after the
Millennium. But we understand here the first Day of Judgment and the
first Resurrection, which will be at the End of this present World;
according as St. _John_ does distinguish them, in the xxth _chap._ of
the _Apocalypse_. Now that the Millennium will not be till the Day of
Judgment in this Sense, we have both the Testimonies of _Daniel_ and of
St. _John_. _Daniel_, in _chap._ vii. _ver._ 9, _&c._ _ver._ 26, _&c._
supposes the Beast to rule _till Judgment shall sit_, and then _they
shall take away his Dominion_, and it shall be given to the People of
the Saints of the most High. St. _John_ makes an explicit Declaration of
both these, in his xxth _chap._ of the _Apocalypse_, which is the great
Directory in this point of the Millennium; he says there were Thrones
set, as for a Judicature, _ver._ 4. Then there was a Resurrection from
the Dead, and those that rise, reigned with Christ a thousand Years:
Here’s a judicial Session, a Resurrection, and the Reign of Christ
joined together. There is also another Passage in St. _John_ that joins
the Judgment of the Dead with the Kingdom of Christ; ’tis in the xith
Chapter, under the seventh Trumpet; the Words are these, ver. 15. _And
the seventh Angel sounded, and there were great Voices in Heaven,
saying, the Kingdoms of this World are become the Kingdoms of our Lord
and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever, And the four
and twenty Elders, &c. And the Nations were angry, and thy Wrath is
come, and the time of the Dead, that they should be judged, and that
thou shouldst give Reward unto thy Servants the Prophets, and to the
Saints, and them that fear thy Name._ Here are two things plainly
express’d and link’d together, _The judging of the Dead_, and the
_Kingdom of Christ_; wherein the Prophets and Saints are rewarded. Now
as the _judging of the Dead_ is not in this Life, so neither is the
Reward of the Prophets and Saints in this Life; as we are taught
sufficiently in the Gospel, and by the Apostles, _Mat._ xix. 28. _1
Thess._ i. 7. 2 _Tim._ iv. 8. 1 _Pet._ i. 7. and _ch._ v. 4. Therefore
the Reign and Kingdom of Christ, which is joined with these two, cannot
be in this Life, or before the End of the World: And as a farther
Testimony and Confirmation of this, we may observe that St. _Paul_ to
_Timothy_ hath joined together these three things; the _Appearance of
Christ_, the _Reign of Christ_, and the _judging of the Dead. I charge
thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the
quick and the dead, at his appearing, and his Kingdom_, 2 Tim. iv. 1.

This might also be prov’d from the Order, Extent and Progress of the
Prophesies of the _Apocalypse_; whereof some are such as reach to the
End of the World, and yet must be accomplish’d before the Millennium
begins, as the Vials. Others are so far already advanc’d towards the End
of the World, as to leave no room for a thousand Years Reign; as the
Trumpets. But because every one hath his own Interpretation of these
Prophesies, and it would be tedious here to prove any single Hypothesis
in Contradistinction to all the rest, we will therefore leave this
Remark, to have more or less Effect, according to the Minds it falls
upon; and proceed to our fifth Argument.

Fifthly, The _new Jerusalem_ State is the same with the millennial
State; but the _new Jerusalem_ State will not be till the End of the
World, or till after the Conflagration; therefore neither the
Millennium: That the _new Jerusalem_ State is the same with the
Millennium, is agreed upon, I think, by all Millennaries, ancient and
modern: _Justin Martyr_, _Irenæus_ and _Tertullian_, speak of it in that
Sense; and so do the latter Authors, so far as I have observed. And St.
_John_ seems to give them good Authority for it; in the xxth _chap._ of
the _Apocalypse_, he says, the _Camp of the Saints_, and _the beloved
City_ were besieg’d by Satan and his gigantick Crew at the End of the
Millennium: That _beloved City_ is the _new Jerusalem_, and you see it
is the same with the Camp of the Saints, or, at least, contemporary with
it. Besides, the Marriage of the Lamb was in, or at the Appearance of
the _new Jerusalem_, for that was the _Spouse of the Lamb_, Apoc. xxi.
2. Now this Spouse was ready, and this Marriage was said to be come, at
the Destruction of _Babylon_, which was the Beginning of the Millennium,
_chap._ xviii. 7. Therefore the _new Jerusalem_ run all along with the
Millennium, and was indeed the same thing under another Name. Lastly,
what is this _new Jerusalem_, if it be not the same with the millennial
State? It is promis’d a Reward to the Sufferers for Christ _Apoc._ iii.
12. and you see its wonderful Privileges, _chap._ xxi. 3, 4. and yet it
is not Heaven and eternal Life; for it is said to come down from God out
of Heaven, _ch._ xxi. 2. and _ch._ iii. 12. It can therefore be nothing
but the glorious Kingdom of Christ upon Earth, where the Saints shall
reign with him a thousand Years.

Now as to the second Part of our Argument, that the _new Jerusalem_ will
not come down from Heaven till the End of the World; of this St. _John_
seems to give us a plain Proof or Demonstration; for he places the _new
Jerusalem_ in the _new Heaven_ and _new Earth_, which cannot be till
after the Conflagration. Let us hear his Words, _Apoc._ xxi. 1, 2. _And
I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth, for the first Heaven and the first
Earth were passed away, and there was no more Sea. And I John saw the
holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven; prepared
as a Bride adorned for her Husband._ When the new Earth was made, he
sees the _new Jerusalem_ coming down upon it; and this Renovation of the
Earth not being till the Conflagration, the _new Jerusalem_ could not be
till then neither. The Prophet _Isaiah_ had long before said the same
thing, though not in terms so express; he first says, _Behold I create
new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein you shall rejoice_: Then subjoins
immediately, _Behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing_, Isa. lxv. 17, 18.
This rejoicing is still in the same Place; in the _new Heavens_ and _new
Earth_, or in the _new Jerusalem_. And St. _John_, in a like Method,
first sets down the _new Earth_, then the _new Jerusalem_; and expresses
the Mind of the Prophet _Isaiah_ more distinctly.

This leads me to a sixth Argument to confirm our Conclusion: The Time of
the _Restitution_ or _Restauration of all Things_, spoken of by St.
_Peter_ and the Prophets, is the same with the Millennium; but that
Restauration will not be till the coming of Christ, and the End of the
World; therefore neither the Millennium. That this Restitution of all
things will not be till the coming of our Saviour, St. _Peter_ declares
in his Sermon, _Acts_ iii. 21. and that the coming of our Saviour will
not be till the End of the World, or till the Conflagration, both St.
_Paul_ and St. _Peter_ signify to us, _1 Thess._ i. 7, 8. _2 Pet._ iii.
10. therefore it remains only to prove, that this Restitution of all
Things spoken of here by the Apostle, is the same with the Millennium. I
know that which it does directly and immediately signify, is the
Renovation of the World: but it must include the moral World as well as
the Natural; otherwise it cannot be truly said, as St. _Peter_ does
there, that all the Prophets have spoken of it. And what is the
Renovation of the natural and moral World, but the _new Jerusalem_ or
the _Millennium_?

These Arguments, taken together, have, to me, an irresistible Evidence
for the Proof of our Conclusion; that the blessed Millennium cannot
obtain in the present Earth, or before the Conflagration; but when
Nature is renew’d, and the Saints and Martyrs rais’d from the Dead, then
they shall reign together with Christ, in the _new Heavens_ and _new
Earth_, or in the _new Jerusalem_; Satan being bound for a thousand
Years.

Footnote 1:

  _Lib. 5. ch. 32, &c._

Footnote 2:

  Dial. _cum_ Tryph.

Footnote 3:

  _Contra Marc._

Footnote 4:

  _Lib. 7._

Footnote 5:

  _Quest. & respon. 93._




                               CHAP. IX.


    _The chief Employment of the Millennium, DEVOTION and
    CONTEMPLATION._


We have now done with the Substance of our Discourse; which is
comprehended in these three Propositions:

    I. _After the Conflagration of this World, there will be new Heavens
    and a new Earth, and that Earth will be inhabited._

    II. _That there is an happy millennial-State, or a future Kingdom of
    Christ and his Saints, prophesied of and promis’d in the Old and New
    Testament; and receiv’d by the Primitive Church, as a Christian and
    Catholick Doctrine._

    III. _That this blessed millennial-State, according as it is
    describ’d in Scripture, cannot take place in the present Earth, nor
    under the present Constitution of Nature and Providence; But is to
    be celebrated in the new Heavens and new Earth, after the
    Conflagration._

These three Propositions support this Work, and if any of them be
broken, I confess my Design is broken, and this Treatise is of no
Effect: But what remains to be spoken to in these last Chapters, is more
circumstantial or modal; and an Error or Mistake in such things, does
not wound any vital Part of the Argument. You must not therefore lay
aside your Severity and rigorous Censures; we are very happy, if, in
this Life, we can attain to the Substance of Truth; and make rational
Conjectures concerning Modes and Circumstances, where every one hath
Right to offer his Sense, with Modesty and Submission. Revelations made
to us from Heaven in this present State, are often incompleat, and do
not tell us all; as if it was on purpose to set our Thoughts a-work to
supply the rest; which we may lawfully do, provided it be according to
the Analogy of Scripture and Reason.

To proceed therefore; we suppose, as you see, the _new Heavens_ and the
_new Earth_ to be the Seat of the _Millennium_, and that new Creation to
be _Paradisiacal_: Its Inhabitants also to be righteous Persons, the
Saints of the most High. And seeing the ordinary Employments of our
present Life will then be needless and superseded, as Military-Affairs,
Sea-Affairs, most Trades and Manufactures, Law, Physick, and the
laborious part of Agriculture; it may be wonder’d, how this happy People
will bestow their Time; what Entertainment they will find in a State of
so much Ease, and so little Action. To this one might answer in short,
by another Question, _How_ would they have entertain’d themselves in
Paradise, if Man had continued in Innocency? This is a Revolution of the
same State, and therefore they may pass Time as well now as they could
have done then. But to answer more particularly, besides all innocent
Diversions, ingenuous Conversations, and Entertainments of Friendship,
the greatest part of their Time will be spent in _Devotion_ and
_Contemplation_. O happy Employment, and next to that of Heaven it self!
What do the Saints Above, but sing Praises unto God, and contemplate his
Perfections! And how mean and despicable, for the most part, are the
Employments of this present Life, if compar’d with those intellectual
Actions! If Mankind was divided into ten Parts, nine of those ten employ
their Time to get Bread to their Belly, and Cloaths to their Back; and
what Impertinences are these to a reasonable Soul, if she was free from
the Clog of a mortal Body, or if that could be provided for, without
Trouble or lots of Time? Corporeal Labour is from Need and Necessity,
but intellectual Exercises are matter of Choice, that please and perfect
at the same Time.

Devotion warms and opens the Soul, and disposes it to receive divine
Influences. It sometimes raises the Mind into an heavenly Ecstasy, and
fills it with a Joy that is not to be express’d. When it is pure, it
leaves a strong Impression upon the Heart, of Love to God; and inspires
us with a Contempt of this World, having tasted the Pleasures of the
World to come. In the State which we speak of, seeing the _Tabernacle of
God will be with Men_, _Apoc. xxi. 3_. we may reasonably suppose that
there will be greater Effusions and Irradiations of the Holy Spirit,
than we have or can expect in this Region of Darkness; and consequently,
all the Strength and Comfort that can arise from private Devotion.

And as to their publick Devotions, all Beauties of Holiness, all
Perfection of divine Worship, will shine in their Assemblies. Whatsoever
_David_ says of _Sion_ and _Jerusalem_, _Psal. lxxxiv._ are but Shadows
of this _New Jerusalem_, and of the Glory that will be in those
Solemnities, _Psal. lxxxvii._ Imagine what a Congregation will be there
of Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Christian Martyrs, and Saints of the
first Rank, throughout all Ages: And these all known to one another by
their Names and History. This very meeting together of such Persons,
must needs create a Joy unspeakable: But when they unite in their
Praises to God and to the Lamb, with pure Hearts full of divine Love;
when they sing their Hallelujahs to him that sits upon the Throne, that
hath wash’d them in his Blood, and redeem’d them out of every Kingdom,
and Tongue, and People, and Nation: When, with their Palms in their
Hands, they triumph over Sin and Death, and Hell, and all the Powers of
Darkness; can there be any thing, on this side Heaven, and a Choir of
Angels, more glorious or more joyful?

But why did I except Angels? Why may not they be thought to be present
at these Assemblies? In a Society of Saints and purified Spirits, why
should we think their Converse impossible? In the Golden Age, the Gods
were always represented, as having freer Intercourse with Men; and
before the Flood, we may reasonably believe it so. I cannot think,
_Enoch_ was translated into Heaven without any Converse with its
Inhabitants before he went thither: And seeing the Angels vouchsafed
often, in former Ages, to visit the Patriarchs upon Earth, we may with
Reason judge, that they will much more converse with the same Patriarchs
and holy Prophets, now they are risen from the Dead, and cleans’d from
their Sins, and seated in the _New Jerusalem_. I cannot but call to
mind, upon this Occasion, that Representation which St. _Paul_ makes to
us, of a glorious State and a glorious Assembly, too high for this
present Earth: ’Tis, (_Hebr. xii. 22_, _&c._) in these Words: _But you
are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the City of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable Company of Angels; to the
general Assembly and Church of the First-born, which are written in
Heaven; and to God the Judge of all, and to the Spirits of just Men made
perfect._ This, I know, several apply to the Times and State of the
Gospel, in Opposition to that of the Law; and it is introduc’d in that
manner; but here are several Expressions too high for any present State
of Things; they must respect a future State, either of Heaven, or of the
Millennial Kingdom of Christ: And to the latter of these Expressions
agree, and have a peculiar Fitness and Applicability to it. And what
follows in the Context, _ver. 26, 27, 28_. _About shaking the Heavens
and the Earth once more_; removing the former Scenes, and bringing on a
new Kingdom that cannot be shaken: All this, I say, answers to the
Kingdom of Christ, which is to be establish’d in the new Heavens and new
Earth.

But to proceed in their publick Devotions; Suppose this August Assembly,
inflam’d with all divine Passions, met together to celebrate the Name of
God, with Angels intermixt, to bear a Part in this holy Exercise: And
let this Concourse be, not in any Temple made with Hands, but under the
great Roof Heaven, (the true Temple of the most High,) so as all the Air
may be fill’d with the chearful Harmony of their Hymns and Hallelujahs:
Then, in the height of their Devotion, as they sing Praises to the Lamb,
and to him that sits upon the Throne, suppose the Heavens to open, and
the Son of God to appear in his Glory, _Apoc. v. 11._ with thousands and
ten thousands of Angels round about him; that their Eyes may see him,
who, for their Sakes was crucified upon Earth, now encircled with Light
and Majesty. This will raise them into as great Transports as human
Nature can bear: They will wish to be dissolv’d, they will strive to fly
up to him in the Clouds, or to breathe out their Souls in repeated
Doxologies of _Blessing, Ch. v. 13. and Honour, and Glory, and Power, to
him that sits upon the Throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and ever_.

But we cannot live always in the Flames of Devotion; the Weakness of our
Nature will not suffer us to continue long under such strong Passions,
and such Intenseness of Mind. The Question is therefore, What will be
the ordinary Employment of that Life? How will they entertain their
Thoughts, or spend their Time? For we suppose they will not have that
multiplicity of frivolous Business that we have now; about our Bodies,
about our Children; in Trades and Mechanicks; in Traffick and
Navigation; or Wars by Sea or Land. These things being swept away
wholly, or in a great Measure, what will come in their Place? How will
they find Work or Entertainment for a long Life? If we consider, who
they are that will have a Part in this first Resurrection, and be
Inhabitants of that World that is to come, we may easily believe that
the most constant Employment of their Life will be CONTEMPLATION. Not
that I exclude any innocent Diversions, as I said before; the
Entertainments of Friendship, or ingenuous Conversation; but the great
Business and Design of that Life is Contemplation, as preparatory to
Heaven and eternal Glory. _Ut paulatim assueseant capere Deum, L. 5. c.
32._ as _Irenæus_ says, that they may, by Degrees, enlarge their
Capacities, fit and _accustom themselves to receive God_. Or, as he says
in another Place, _That they may become capable of the Glory of the
Father_; that is, capable of bearing the Glory and Presence of God;
capable of the highest Enjoyment of him, which is usually call’d the
_Beatifical Vision_; and is the Condition of the Blessed in Heaven.

It cannot be deny’d, that in such a Millennial State, where we shall be
freed from all the Incumbrances of this Life, and provided of better
Bodies and greater Light of Mind: It cannot be doubted, I say, but that
we shall then be in a Disposition to make greater Proficiency in the
Knowledge of all Things, divine and intellectual; and consequently of
making happy Preparations for our entring upon a further State of Glory:
For there is nothing certainly does more prepare the Mind of Man for the
highest Perfections, than Contemplation, with that Devotion which
naturally flows from it, as Heat follows Light. And this Contemplation
hath always a greater or less Effect upon the Mind according to the
Perfection of its Object; so as the Contemplation of the divine Nature
is, of all others, the most perfective in it self, and to us, according
to our Capacities and Decree of Abstraction. An _immense Being_ does
strangely fill the Soul; and Omnipotency, Omnisciency, and infinite
Goodness, do enlarge and dilate the Spirit, while it fixily looks upon
them. They raise strong Passions of Love and Admiration, which melt our
Nature, and transform it into the Mould and Image of that which we
contemplate: What the Scripture says of our _Transformation_ into the
divine Likeness; what St. _John_ and the _Platonists_ say of our _Union_
with God; and whatever is not cant in the _mystical Theology_, when they
tell us of being deified; all this must spring from these Sources of
Devotion and Contemplation: They will change and raise us from
Perfection to Perfection, as from Glory to Glory, into a greater
Similitude and nearer Station to the divine Nature.

The Contemplation of God and his Works comprehends all Things; for the
one makes the uncreated World, and the other the created: And as the
divine Essence and Attributes are the greatest Objects that the Mind of
Man can set before it self; so next to that are the Effects and
Emanations of the Divinity, or the Works of the divine Goodness, Wisdom
and Power in the created World. This hath a vast Extent and Variety, and
would be sufficient to entertain their Time, in that happy State, much
longer than a thousand Years; as you will easily grant, if you allow me
but to point at the several Heads of those Speculations.

The Contemplation of the _created World_ divides it self into three
Parts; that of the _intellectual_ World; that of the _corporeal_; and
the Government and Administration of both, which is usually call’d
_Providence_. These three, drawn into one Thought, with the Reasons and
Proportions that result from them, compose that GRAND IDEA, which is the
Treasury and Comprehension of all Knowledge; whereof we have spoken more
largely in the last Chapter of the second Book of this _Theory_, under
the Name of the _Mundane Idea_. But at present we shall only mention
such Particulars, as may be thought proper Subjects for the Meditations
and Enquiries of those who shall enjoy that happy State which we now
treat of.

As to the intellectual World, excepting our own Souls, we know little,
in this Region of Darkness where we are at present, more than bare
Names: We hear of Angels and Archangels, of Cherubins and Seraphins, of
Principalities and Powers, and Thrones, and Dominions: We hear the Sound
of these Words with Admiration, but we know little of their Natures;
wherein their general Notion, and wherein their Distinction consists;
what peculiar Excellencies they have, what Offices and Employments, of
all this we are ignorant; only in general, we cannot but suppose that
there are more Orders and Degrees of intellectual Beings, betwixt us and
the Almighty, than there are Kinds or Species of living Creatures upon
the Face of the Earth; betwixt Man their Lord and Master, and the least
Worm that creeps upon the Ground; nay, than there are Stars in Heaven,
or Sands upon the Sea-shore. For there is an infinite Distance and
Interval betwixt us and God Almighty, and all that is fill’d with
created Beings of different Degrees of Perfection, still approaching
nearer and nearer to their Maker. And when this invisible World shall be
open’d to us, when the Curtain is drawn, and the Celestial Hierarchy set
in order before our Eyes, we shall despise our selves, and all the petty
Glories of a mortal Life, as the Dirt under our Feet.

As to the corporeal Universe, we have some Share already in the
Contemplation and Knowledge of that; though little in Comparison of what
will be then discover’d. The Doctrine of the Heavens, fixed Stars,
Planets and Comets, both as to their Matter, Motion and Form, will be
then clearly demonstrated; and what are Mysteries to us now, will become
matter of ordinary Conversation: We shall be better acquainted with our
neighbouring Worlds, and make new Discoveries as to the State of their
Affairs. The Sun especially, the great Monarch of the planetary Worlds;
whose Dominion reaches from Pole to Pole, and the Greatness of his
Kingdom is under the whole Heaven: Who sends his bright Messengers every
Day through all the Regions of his vast Empire; throwing his Beams of
Light round about him, swifter and farther than a Thought can follow:
This noble Creature, I say, will make a good part of their Study in the
succeeding World. _Eudoxus_, the Philosopher, wish’d he might dye like
_Phaeton_, in approaching too near to the Sun, provided he could fly so
near it, and endure it so long, till he had discover’d its Beauty and
Perfection. Who can blame his Curiosity? Who would not venture far to
see the Court of so great a Prince, who hath more Worlds under his
Command than the Emperors of the Earth have Provinces or Principalities?
Neither does he make his Subjects Slaves to his Pleasure, or Tributaries
to serve and supply his Wants: On the contrary, they live upon him, he
nourishes and preserves them; gives them Fruits every Year, Corn, and
Wine, and all the Comforts of Life: This glorious Body, which now we can
only gaze upon and admire, will be then better understood. A Mass of
Light and Flame, and ethereal Matter, ten thousand times bigger than
this Earth; enlightning and enlivening an Orb that exceeds the Bulk of
our Globe, as much as that does the least Sand upon the Sea-shore, may
reasonably be presum’d to have some great Being at the Centre of it; but
what that is we must leave to the Enquiries of another Life.

The _Theory of the Earth_ will be a common Lesson there; carried through
all its Vicissitudes and Periods from first to last, till its entire
Revolution be accomplish’d. I told you in the Preface, the _Revolution
of the World_ was one of the greatest Speculations that we are capable
of in this Life; and this little World where we are, will be the first
and easiest Instance of it, seeing we have Records, Historical, or
Prophetical, that reach from the Chaos to the End of the new Heavens and
new Earth; which course of Time makes up the greatest part of the Circle
or Revolution. And as what was before the Chaos, was but, in my Opinion,
the first Remove from a fixed Star, so what is after the thousand Years
Renovation, is but the last Step to it again.

The _Theory of human Nature_ is also an useful and necessary
Speculation, and will be carried on to Perfection in that State. Having
fix’d the true Distinction betwixt Matter and Spirit, betwixt the Soul
and the Body, and the true Nature and Laws of their Union, the original
Contract, and the Terms ratified by Providence at their first
Conjunction, it will not be hard to discover the Springs of Action and
Passion; how the Thoughts of our Mind and the Motions of our Body act in
dependance one upon another. What are the primary Differences of
Genius’s and Complexions, and how our Intellectuals or Morals depend
upon them? What is the Root of Fatality, and how far it extends? By
these Lights they will see into their own and every Man’s Breast, and
trace the Foot-steps of the divine Wisdom in that strange Composition of
Soul and Body.

This indeed is a mix’d Speculation, as most others are, and takes in
something of both Worlds, intellectual and corporeal; and may also
belong in part to the third Head we mention’d, _Providence_: But there
is no need of distinguishing these Heads so nicely, provided we take in,
under some or other of them, what may be thought best to deserve our
Knowledge now, or in another World. As to _Providence_, what we intend
chiefly by it here, is the general Oeconomy of our Religion, and what is
reveal’d to us in Scripture, concerning God, Angels, and Mankind. These
Revelations, as most in Sacred Writ, are short and incompleat; as being
design’d for Practice more than for Speculation, or to awaken and excite
our Thoughts rather than to satisfy them. Accordingly, we read in
Scripture of a Triune Deity; of God made Flesh in the Womb of a Virgin;
barbarously crucified by the _Jews_; descending into Hell; rising again
from the Dead; visibly ascending into Heaven; and sitting at the Right
Hand of God the Father, above Angels and Archangels. These great things
are imperfectly revealed to us in this Life; which we are to believe so
far as they are revealed, 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, _Mat. iii.
16._ Like cloven Tongues of Fire upon the Apostles the Place being
fill’d with a rushing mighty Wind, _Acts ii._ That he over shadow’d the
blessed Virgin, and begot the Holy Infant, _Mat. i. 18._ That he made
the Apostles speak all sorts of Tongues and Languages _ex tempore_, and
pour’d out strange Virtues and miraculous Gifts upon the Primitive
Christians, _Luke i. 35._ 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? What Change is
wrought in the Brain, and what in the Soul, and how the Effect follows?
Who will give us the just Definition of a _Miracle_? What 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 World. For as several things obscurely express’d in
the Old Testament, are more clearly reveal’d in the New; so the same
Mysteries, in a succeeding State, may still receive a farther
Explication.

The History of the Angels, good or bad, makes another Part of this
providential System. Christian Religion gives us some Notices of both
Kinds, but very imperfect; what Interest the good Angels have in the
Government of the World, 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
conjectural. 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. We know not what they will be, till the
loud Trump awakes us, and calls us again into the corporeal World. Who
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. ’Tis 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 gratify 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 Set 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 is afraid of Death: But Contemplation is a continual Spring
of fresh Pleasures. Truth is inexhausted, and when once you are in the
right Way, the farther you go, the greater Discoveries you make, and
with the greater Joy. We are sometimes highly pleased, 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 the 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 exite in us; and this being the last Act and Close of all human
Affairs, it ought to be the more exquisite and elaborate, that it may
crown the Work, satisfy 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 a State, as any terrestrial State can be: For,
besides Health and Plenty, Peace, Truth, and Righteousness will flourish
there, and all the Evils of this Life stand excluded. There will be no
ambitious Princes, studying Mischief one against another, or contriving
Methods to bring their own Subjects into Slavery; no mercenary Statesmen
to assist and intrigue with them, no Oppression from the Powerful, no
Snares or Traps laid for the Innocent, no treacherous Friends, no
malicious Enemies, no Knaves, Cheats, Hypocrites; the Vermin of this
Earth, that swarm every where. There will be nothing but Truth, Candor,
Sincerity and Ingenuity; as in a Society or Commonwealth of Saints and
Philosophers: In a Word, ’twill be _Paradise restor’d_, both as to
Innocency of Temper, and the Beauties of Nature.

I believe you will be apt to say, if this be not true, ’tis pity but it
should be true: For ’tis a very desirable State, where all good People
would find themselves mightily at ease. What is it that hinders it then?
It must be some ill _Genius_; for Nature tends to such a Renovation, as
we suppose; and Scripture speaks loudly of an happy State to be some
time or other on this side Heaven: And what is there, pray, in this
present World, Natural and Moral, if I may ask with Reverence, that
could make it worth the while for God to create it, if it never was
better, nor ever will be better? Is there not more Misery than
Happiness? Is there not more Vice than Virtue in this World? As if it
had been made by a _Manichean_ God. The Earth barren, the Heavens
inconstant; Men wicked and God offended: This is the Posture of our
Affairs, such hath our World been hitherto, with Wars and Bloodshed,
Sickness, and Diseases, Poverty, Servitude and perpetual Drudgery for
the Necessaries of a mortal Life. We may therefore reasonably hope, from
a God infinitely good and powerful, for better Times and a better State,
before the last Period and Consummation of all Things.

But it will be objected, it may be, that, according to Scripture, the
Vices and Wickedness of Men will continue to the End of the World; and
so there will be no room for such an happy State, as we hope for, _Luk.
xviii. 8_. Our Saviour says, _When the Son of Man cometh, shall he find
Faith upon the Earth?_ They shall _eat and drink and play_, as before
the Destruction of the _old World_, or of _Sodom_, (_Luke xvii. 26_,
_&c._) and the Wickedness of those Men, you know, continued to the last.
This Objection may pinch those that suppose the Millennium to be in the
present Earth, and a thousand Years before the coming of our Saviour;
for his Words seem to imply that the World will be in a State of
Wickedness even till his coming. Accordingly Antichrist or the _Man of
Sin_, is not said to be destroy’d till the coming of our Saviour, _2
Thess. ii. 8_. and till he be destroy’d, we cannot hope for a
Millennium. Lastly, The coming of our Saviour is always represented in
Scripture as sudden, surprizing and unexpected; as _Lightning_ breaking
suddenly out of the Clouds, (_Luke xvii. 24._ and _ch. xxi. 34, 35_.) or
as a _Thief in the Night_, _1 Thess. v. 2, 3, 4._ _2 Pet. iii. 10._
_Apoc. xvi. 15._ But if there be such a Fore-runner of it as the
millennial State, whose Bounds we know, according as that expires and
draws to an End, Men will be certainly advertis’d of the approaching of
our Saviour: But this Objection, as I told you, does not affect our
Hypothesis, for we suppose the Millennium will not be till after the
coming of our Saviour, and the Conflagration. And also that his coming
will be sudden and surprising; and that Antichrist will continue in
being, tho’ not in the same degree of Power, till that time: So that
they that place the Millennium in the present Earth, are chiefly
concern’d to answer this first Objection.

But you will object, it may be, in the second Place, that this
Millennium, wheresoever it is, would degenerate at length into
Sensuality, and a _Mahometan Paradise:_ For where there are earthly
Pleasures and earthly Appetites, they will not be kept always in order
without any Excess or Luxuriancy; especially as to the Senses to Touch
and Taste. I am apt to think this is true, if the Soul have no more
Power over the Body than she hath at present, and our Senses, Passions,
and Appetites be as strong as they are now: But according to our
Explication of the Millennium, we have great Reason to hope, that the
Soul will have a greater Dominion over the Resurrection-Body, than she
hath over this; and you know we suppose that none will truly inherit the
Millennium, but those that rise from the Dead: Nor do we admit any
Propagation there, nor the Trouble or Weakness of Infants. But that all
rise in a perfect Age, and never die; being translated, at the final
Judgment, to meet our Saviour in the Clouds, and to be with him for
ever: Thus we easily avoid the Force of this Objection. But those that
place the Millennium in this Life, and to be enjoy’d in these Bodies,
must find out some new Preservatives against Vice, otherwise they will
be continually subject to Degeneracy.

Another Objection may be taken from the personal Reign of Christ upon
Earth, which is a thing incongruous, and yet asserted by many modern
Millennaries; that Christ should leave that Right-Hand of his Father, to
come and pass a thousand Years here below, living upon Earth in an
heavenly Body: This, I confess, is a thing I never could digest, and
therefore I am not concern’d in this Objection; not thinking it
necessary that Christ should be personally present and resident upon
Earth in the Millennium. I am apt to believe that there will be then a
celestial Presence of Christ, or a _Shekinah_, as we noted before; as
the Sun is present to the Earth, yet never leaves its Place in the
Firmament; so Christ may be visibly conspicuous in his heavenly Throne,
as he was to St. _Stephen_, _Acts vii. 55, 56_. and yet never leave the
Right Hand of his Father. And this would be a more glorious and
illustrious Presence, than if he should descend, and converse amongst
Men in a personal Shape: But these things not being distinctly reveal’d
to us, we ought not to determine any thing concerning them, but with
Modesty and Submission.

We have thus far pretty well escap’d, and kept our selves out of the
reach of the ordinary Objections against the Millennium: But there
remains one, concerning a _double Resurrection_, which must fall upon
every Hypothesis, and ’tis this. The Scripture, they say, speaks but of
one Resurrection; whereas the Doctrine of the Millennium supposes two;
one at the Beginning of the Millennium, for the Martyrs, and those that
enjoy that happy State, and the other at the End of it; which is
universal and final, in the last Day of Judgment. ’Tis true, Scripture
generally speaks of the Resurrection in gross; without distinguishing
first and second; and so it speaks of the _Coming_ of our Saviour,
without Distinction of first or second yet it does not follow from that,
that there is but one coming of our Saviour, so neither that there is
but one Resurrection. And seeing there is one place of Scripture that
speaks distinctly of two Resurrections, namely, the _xxth chap._ of the
_Apocalypse_, that is to us a sufficient Warrant for asserting two; as
there are some things in one Evangelist that are not in another, yet we
think them authentick if they be but in one: There are also some things
in _Daniel_, concerning the _Messiah_, and concerning the
_Resurrection_, that are not in the rest of the Prophets; yet we look
upon his single Testimony as good Authority. St. _John_ wrote the last
of all the Apostles, and as the whole Series of his Prophecies is new,
reaching through the latter Times to the Consummation of all Things; so
we cannot wonder if he had something more particular reveal’d to him
concerning the Resurrection: That which was spoken of before in general,
being distinguish’d now into _first_ and _second_, or particular and
universal, in this last Prophet. _See Mr. Mede._ Some think St. _Paul_
means no less, when he makes an _Order_ in the Resurrection; some rising
sooner, some later, _1 Cor. xv. 23, 24_, _1 Thess.. iv. 14, 15_, _&c._
but whether that be so or no, St. _John_ might have a more distinct
Revelation concerning it, than St. _Paul_ had, or any one before him.

After these Objections, a great many Queries and Difficulties might be
propos’d relating to the Millennium: But that’s no more than what is
found in all other Matters, remote from our Knowledge. Who can answer
all the Queries that may be made concerning _Heaven_, or _Hell_, or
_Paradise_? When we know a Thing as to the Substance, we are not to let
go our Hold, tho’ there remain some Difficulties unresolv’d; otherwise
we should be eternally sceptical in most Matters of Knowledge.
Therefore, tho’ we cannot, for Example, give a full Account of the
Distinction of Habitations and Inhabitants in the _future Earth_; or, of
the Order of the _first Resurrection_, whether it be perform’d by
degrees and successively, or all the Inhabitants of the _new Jerusalem_
rise at once, and continue throughout the whole Millennium: I say, tho’
we cannot give a distinct Account of these, or such like Particulars, we
ought not therefore to deny or doubt whether there will be a _new
Earth_, or a _first Resurrection_. For the Revelation goes clearly so
far, and the Obscurity is only in the Consequences and Dependences of
it; which Providence thought fit, without farther Light, to leave to our
Search and Disquisition.

Scripture mentions one Thing, at the End of the Millennium, which is a
common Difficulty to all; and every one must contribute their best
Thoughts and Conjectures towards the Solution of it: ’Tis the strange
Doctrine of _Gog_ and _Magog_, _Apoc. xx. 8, 9_. which are to rise up in
Rebellion against the Saints, and besiege the holy City, and the holy
Camp: And this is to be upon the Expiration of the thousand Years, when
Satan is loosen’d; for no sooner will his Chains be knock’d off, but he
will put himself in the Head of this Army of Giants, or Sons of the
Earth, and attack Heaven, and the Saints of the most High: But with ill
Success, for there will come down Fire and Lightning from Heaven, and
consume them. This, methinks, hath a great Affinity with the History of
the Giants, rebelling and assaulting Heaven, and struck down by
Thunder-Bolts: But that of setting Mountains upon Mountains, or tossing
them into the Sky, that’s the poetical Part, and we must not expect to
find it in the Prophecy. The Poets told their Fable, as of a thing past,
and so it was a Fable; but the Prophets speak of it, as of a Thing to
come, and so it will be a Reality: But how and in what Sense it is to be
understood and explain’d, every one has the Liberty to make the best
Judgment he can.

_Ezekiel_ mentions _Gog_ and _Magog_, _ch._ xxxviii. and xxxix. which I
take to be only Types and Shadows of these which we are now speaking of,
and not yet exemplify’d, no more than his Temple. And seeing this People
is to be at the End of the _Millennium_, and in the same Earth with it,
we must, according to our Hypothesis, plant them in the future Earth,
and therefore all former Conjectures about the _Turks_, or _Scythians_,
or other _Barbarians_, are out of Doors with us, seeing the Scene of
this Action does not lie in the present Earth: They are also represented
by the Prophet, as a People distinct and separate from the Saints, not
in their Manners only, but also in their Seats and Habitations; for
(_Apoc. xx. 8, 9._) they are said to come up from the four Corners of
the Earth, upon the Breadth of the Earth, and there to besiege the _Camp
of the Saints and the beloved City_: This makes it seem probable to me,
that there will be a double Race of Mankind in that _future Earth_; very
different one from another, both as to their Temper and Disposition, and
as to their Origin: The one born from Heaven, Sons of God, and of the
Resurrection, who are the true Saints and Heirs of the _Millennium_. The
other born of the Earth, Sons of the Earth, generated from the Slime of
the Ground, and the Heat of the Sun, as brute Creatures were at first:
This second Progeny or Generation of Men in the future Earth, I
understand to be signified by the Prophet under these borrowed or
feigned Names of _Gog_ and _Magog_: And this Earth-born Race, increasing
and multiplying after the Manner of Men, by carnal Propagation, after a
thousand Years, grew numerous, as the Sand by the Sea; and thereupon
made an Irruption or Inundation upon the Face of the Earth, and upon the
Habitations of the Saints; as the barbarous Nations did formerly upon
Christendom; or as the Giants are said to have made War against the
Gods: But they were soon confounded in their impious and sacrilegious
Design, being struck and consum’d by Fire from Heaven.

Some will think, it may be, that there was such a double Race of Mankind
in the first World also: _The Sons of Adam, and the Sons of God_;
because it is said, _Gen. vi._ _When Men began to multiply upon the Face
of the Earth_, that _the SONS OF GOD SAW THE DAUGHTERS OF MEN, that they
were fair, and they took them Wives of all that they lik’d._ And it is
added, presently, _ver. 4._ _There were Giants in the Earth in those
Days; and also after that, when the Sons of God came in unto the
Daughters of Men, and they bare Children to them; the same became mighty
Men, which were of old, Men of Renown._ Here seem to be two or three
Orders or Races in this Ante-diluvian World. _The Sons of God; the Sons
and Daughters of Adam_; and a third Sort arising from the Mixture and
Copulation of these, which are call’d _Mighty Men of old_, or Heroes.
Besides, here are Giants mention’d, and to which they are to be reduc’d,
it does not certainly appear.

This Mixture of these two Races, whatsoever they were, gave, it seems,
so great Offence to God, that he destroy’d that World upon it, in a
Deluge of Water. It hath been matter of great Difficulty to determine,
who these _Sons of God_ were, that fell in Love with and married the
Daughters of Men. There are two Conjectures that prevail most; one, that
they were Angels; and another, that they were of the Posterity of
_Seth_, and distinguished from the rest, by their Piety, and the Worship
of the true God; so that it was a great Crime for them to mingle with
the rest of Mankind, who are suppos’d to have been Idolaters: Neither of
these Opinions is to me satisfactory. For as to Angels, good Angels
neither _marry, nor are given in Marriage_, _Mat. xxii. 30._ and bad
Angels are not called the _Sons of God_. Besides, if Angels were capable
of those mean Pleasures, we ought in Reason to suppose, that there are
Female Angels, as well as Male; for surely those Capacities are not in
vain through a whole _Species_ of Beings. And if there be Female Angels,
we cannot imagine, but that they must be of a far more charming Beauty
than the dowdy Daughters of Men. Then as to the Line of _Seth_, it does
not appear that there was any such Distinction of Idolaters and true
Worshipers before the Flood, or that there was any such thing as
Idolatry at that time, nor for some Ages after. Besides, it is not said,
that the Sons of God fell in Love with the Daughters of _Cain_, or of
any degenerate Race, but with the Daughters of _Adam_; which may be the
Daughters of _Seth_, as well as of any other: These Conjectures
therefore seem to be shallow and ill-grounded. But what the Distinction
was of those two Orders, remains yet very uncertain.

St. _Paul_ to the _Galatians_, (_chap. iv. 21, 22_, _&c._) makes a
Distinction also of a double Progeny; that of _Sarah_, and that of
_Hagar_: One was born according to the Flesh, after a natural Manner;
and the other by the divine Power, or in virtue of the divine Promise.
This Distinction of a natural and supernatural Origin, and of a double
Progeny; the one born to Servitude, the other to Liberty, represents
very well either the Manner of our present Birth, and of our future, at
the Resurrection; or that double Progeny and double manner of Birth,
which we suppose in the _future Earth_. ’Tis true, St. _Paul_ applies
this to the Law and the Gospel; but typical Things, you know, have
different Aspects and Complexions, which are not exclusive of one
another; and so it may be here. But however, this double Race of Mankind
in the future Earth, to explain the Doctrine of _Gog_ and _Magog_, is
but a Conjecture; and does not pretend to be otherwise considered.

The last Thing that remains to be considered and accounted for, is the
Upshot and Conclusion of all; namely, what will become of the Earth
after the thousand Years expir’d? Or after the Day of Judgment past, and
the Saints translated into Heaven, what will be the Face of Things here
below? There being nothing expresly reveal’d concerning this, we must
not expect a positive Resolution of it: And the Difficulty is not
peculiar to our Hypothesis; for though the _Millennium_, and the final
Judgment, were concluded in the present Earth, the Quære would still
remain, _What_ would become of this Earth after the last Day? So that
all Parties are equally concern’d, and equally free, to give their
Opinion, _What_ will be the _last State and Consummation_ of this Earth:
Scripture, I told you, hath not defin’d this Point; and the Philosophers
say very little concerning it. The Stoicks indeed speak of the final
Resolution of all things into _Fire_, or into _Ether_: which is the
purest and subtlest sort of Fire: So that the whole Globe or Mass of the
Earth, and all particular Bodies, will, according to them, be at last
dissolv’d into a liquid Flame. Neither was this Doctrine first invented
by the Stoicks; _Heraclitus_ taught it long before them, and I take it
to be as ancient as _Orpheus_ himself; who was the first Philosopher
amongst the _Greeks_: And he deriving his Notions from the _Barbarick_
Philosophers, or the Sages of the _East_, that School of Wisdom may be
look’d upon as the true Seminary of this Doctrine, as it was of most
other natural Knowledge.

But this Dissolution of the Earth into Fire, may be understood two Ways;
either that it will be dissolv’d into a loose Flame, and so dissipated
and lost as Lightning in the Air, and vanish into nothing; or that it
will be dissolv’d into a fix’d Flame, such as the Sun is, or a fix’d
Star. And I am of Opinion, that the Earth after the last Day of
Judgment, will be chang’d into the Nature of a Sun, or of a fix’d Star,
and shine like them in the Firmament: Being all melted down into a Mass
of æthereal Matter, and enlightning a Sphere or Orb round about it. I
have no direct and demonstrative Proof of this I confess, but if Planets
were once fixed Stars, as I believe they were, their Revolution to the
same State again, in a great Circle of Time, seems to be according to
the Methods of Providence, which loves to recover what was lost or
decay’d, after certain Periods, and what was originally good and happy,
to make it so again, all Nature, at last, being transform’d into a like
Glory with the Sons of God, (_Rom._ viii. 21.)

I will not tell you what Foundation there is in Nature, for this Change
or Transformation from the interiour Constitution of the Earth, and the
Instances we have seen of new Stars appearing in the Heavens. I should
lead the _English_ Reader too far out of his Way, to discourse of these
things: But if there be any Passages or Expressions in Scripture, that
countenance such a State of things after the Day of Judgment, it will
not be improper to take Notice of them. That radiant and illustrious
_Jerusalem_, describ’d by St. _John Apoc._ xxi. _ver._ 10, 11, 12, &c.
compos’d all of Gemms and bright Materials, clear and sparkling, as a
Star in the Firmament: Who can give an Account what that is? Its
Foundations, Walls, Gates, Streets, all the Body of it, resplendent as
Light or Fire? What is there in Nature, or in this Universe, that bears
any Resemblance with such a Phænomenon as this, unless it be a Sun or a
fix’d Star? Especially if we add and consider what follows, _ver._ 23.
That _the City had no need of the Sun, nor of the Moon to shine in it_,
_ver. 25_. And that _there was no Night there_. This can be no
terrestrial Body; it must be a Substance luminous in it self, and a
Fountain of Light, as a fix’d Star: And upon such a Change of the Earth,
or Transformation, as this, would _be brought to pass the Saying that is
written_, DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY. Which indeed St. _Paul_
seems to apply to our Bodies in particular, _1 Cor. xv. 54_. But in the
eighth Chap. to the _Romans_ he extends it to all Nature, _ver. 21_.
_The Creation it self also shall be deliver’d from the Bondage of
Corruption, into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God._ And
accordingly St. _John_, speaking of the same Time with St. _Paul_ in
that Place to the _Corinthians_, namely, of the general Resurrection and
Day of Judgement, says, _Death_ and _Hades_, which we render Hell, _were
cast into the Lake of Fire, Apoc. xx. 14._ This is their being
_swallowed up in Victory_, which St. _Paul_ speaks of; when _Death_ and
_Hades_, that is, all the Region of Mortality, the Earth and all its
Dependences, are absorpt into a Mass of Fire; and converted, by a
glorious Victory over the Powers of Darkness, into a luminous Body and a
Region of Light.

This great Issue and Period of the Earth, and of all human Affairs, tho’
it seem to be founded in Nature, and supported by several Expressions of
Scripture; yet we cannot, for want of full Instruction, propose it
otherwise than as a fair Conjecture: The Heavens and the Earth shall
flie away at the Day of Judgment, says the Text, _Apoc. xx. 11_. _And
their Place shall not be found._ This must be understood of our Heavens
and our Earth; and their _flying away_ must be their removing to some
other Part of the Universe, so as their Place or Residence shall not be
found any more here below. This is the easy and natural Sense of the
Words; and this Translation of the Earth will not be without some Change
preceeding, that makes it leave its Place, and, with a lofty Flight,
takes its Seat amongst the Stars.——There we leave it; having conducted
it for the Space of seven thousand Years thro’ various Changes, from a
_dark Chaos to a bright Star_.

_FINIS._




              A REVIEW Of the SACRED Theory of the Earth,

                               And of its

                                PROOFS:

                       Especially in Reference to

                               SCRIPTURE.

                               _LONDON_:
                Printed for J. HOOKE in _Fleet-street_.

                               A Review.




To take a _Review_ of this _Theory_ of the _Earth_, which we have now
finish’d, we must consider, first, the Extent of it, and then the
principal Parts whereof it consists: It reaches, as you see, from one
End of the World to the other; from the first Chaos to the last Day, and
the Consummation of all Things. This probably, will run the length of
seven thousand Years; which is a good competent Space of Time to
exercise our Thoughts upon, and to observe the several Scenes which
Nature and Providence bring into View within the Compass of so many
Ages.

The Matter and principal Parts of this _Theory_ are such things as are
recorded in Scripture: We do not feign a Subject, and then discant upon
it, for Diversion; but endeavour to give an intelligible and rational
Account of such Matters of Fact, past or future, as are there specified
and declared. What it hath seem’d good to the Holy Ghost to communicate
to us, by History or Prophecy, concerning the several States and general
Changes of this Earth, makes the Argument of our Discourse: Therefore
the Things themselves must be taken for granted, in one Sense or other,
seeing, besides all other Proofs, they have the Authority of a
Revelation; and our Business is only to give such an Explication of
them, as shall approve it self to the Faculties of Man, and be
conformable to Scripture.

We will therefore first set down the Things themselves, that make the
subject Matter of this _Theory_; and remind you of our Explication of
them: Then recollect the general Proofs of that Explication, from Reason
and Nature; but more fully and particularly shew how it is grounded upon
Scripture. The primary _Phænomena_ whereof we are to give an Account,
are these five or six.

    I. _The Original of the Earth from a Chaos._

    II. _The State of Paradise, and the antediluvian World._

    III. _The universal Deluge._

    IV. _The universal Conflagration._

    V. _The Renovation of the World, or the new Heavens and new Earth._

    VI. _The Consummation of all Things._

These are unquestionably in Scripture; and these all relate, as you see,
to the several Forms, States and Revolutions of this Earth. We are
therefore oblig’d to give a clear and coherent Account of these
_Phænomena_, in that Order and Consecution wherein they stand to one
another.

There are also in Scripture some other Things, relating to the same
Subjects, that may be call’d the secondary Ingredients of this _Theory_,
and are to be referr’d to their respective primary Heads. Such are, for
Instance,

    I. _The Longevity of the Ante-diluvians._

    II. _The Rupture of the great Abyss, at the Deluge._

    III. _The appearing of the Rainbow after the Deluge, as a Sign that
    there never should be a second Flood._

These things Scripture hath also left upon Record, as Directions and
Indications how to understand the ante-diluvian State, and the Deluge it
self. Whosoever therefore shall undertake to write the _Theory_ of the
_Earth_, must think himself bound to give us a just Explication of these
secondary _Phænomena_, as well as of the primary; and that in such a
Dependance and Connexion, as to make them give and receive Light from
one another.

The former Part of the Task is concerning the World behind us, Times and
Things past, that are already come to Light: The latter is concerning
the World before us, Times and Things to come; that lie yet in the Bosom
of Providence, and in the Seeds of Nature. And these are chiefly the
_Conflagration_ of the World, and the _Renovation_ of it. When these are
over and expir’d, then _comes the End_, as St. _Paul_ says, _1 Cor. xv._
Then the _Heavens and the Earth fly away_, as St. _John_ says, _Apoc.
xx._ Then is the _Consummation_ of all Things, and the last Period of
this sublunary World, whatsoever it is: Thus far the Theorist must go,
and pursue the Motions of Nature, till all Things are brought to Rest
and Silence: And in this latter Part of the _Theory_, there is also a
collateral Phænomenon, the _Millennium_, or thousand Years Reign of
Christ and his Saints upon Earth, to be consider’d. For this, according
as it is reported in Scripture, does imply a Change in the natural
World, as well as in the Morals and therefore must be accounted for in
the _Theory_ of the _Earth_: At least it must be there determin’d,
whether that State of the World, which is singular and extraordinary,
will be before or after the Conflagration.

These are the Principals and Incidents of this _Theory_ of the _Earth_,
as to the Matter and Subject of it; which, you see, is both important,
and wholly taken out of Scripture: As to our Explication of these
Points, that is sufficiently known, being set down at large in four
Books of this Theory; Therefore it remains only, having seen the Matter
of the Theory, to examine the Form of it, and the Proofs of it; for from
these two things it must receive its Censure. As to the Form, the
Characters of a regular Theory seem to be these three; _Few and easy
Postulatums; Union of Parts_; and _a Fitness to answer, fully and
clearly, all the Phænomena to which it is to be apply’d_.

We think our Hypothesis does not want any of these Characters: As to the
first, we take but one single _Postulatum_ for the whole Theory, and
that an easy one, warranted both by Scripture and Antiquity; namely,
_That this Earth rise, at first, from a Chaos_: As to the second, _Union
of Parts_, the whole Theory is but one Series of Causes and Effects from
that first Chaos. Besides, you can scarce admit any one Part of it,
first, last, or intermediate, but you must, in Consequence of that,
admit all the rest. Grant me but that the Deluge is truly explain’d, and
I’ll desire no more Proof for all the Theory: Or, if you begin at the
other End, and grant the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_ after the
Conflagration, you will be led back again to the first Heavens and first
Earth that were before the Flood. For St. _John_ says, that _new Earth_
was without a _Sea_, _Apoc. xxi. 1_. And it was a _Renovation_, or
_Restitution_ to some former State of Things: There was therefore some
former Earth without a Sea; which not being the present Earth, it must
be the ante-diluvian. Besides, both St. _John_, and the Prophet
_Esaias_, have represented the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_, as
_paradisiacal_, according as it proved, _Book IV. Chap. 2_. And having
told us the Form of the new-future-Earth, that it will have _no Sea_, it
is a reasonable Inference that there was no Sea in the _paradisiacal
Earth_. However, from the Form of this future Earth, which St. _John_
represents to us, we may at least conclude, that an _Earth without a
Sea_ is no Chimæra, or Impossibility; but rather a fit Seat and
Habitation for the Just and the Innocent.

Thus you see the Parts of the Theory link and hold fast one another,
according to the Second Character: And as to the third, of being _suited
to the Phænomena_, we must refer that to the next Head of _Proofs_. It
may be truly said, that bare Coherence and Union of Parts is not a
sufficient Proof; the Parts of a Fable or Romance may hang aptly
together, and yet have no Truth in them: This is enough indeed to give
the Title of a just Composition to any Work, but not of a true one; till
it appear that the Conclusions and Explications are grounded upon good
natural Evidence, or upon good Divine Authority. We must therefore
proceed now to the third thing to be consider’d in a Theory, _What_ its
Proofs are? Or the Grounds upon which it stands, whether Sacred or
Natural?

According to natural Evidence, things are proved from their Causes or
their Effects; and we think we have this double Order of Proofs for the
Truth of our Hypothesis: As to the Method of Causes, we proceed from
what is more simple, to what is more compound, and build all upon one
Foundation. Go but to the Head of the Theory, and you will see the
Causes lying in a Train before you, from first to last; and tho’ you did
not know the natural History of the World, past or future, you might, by
Intuition, foretel it, as to the grand Revolutions and successive Faces
of Nature, through a long Series of Ages. If we have given a true
Account of the Motions of the Chaos, we have also truly form’d the first
habitable Earth; and if that be truly form’d we have thereby given a
true Account of the State of _Paradise_, and of all that depends upon
it; and not of that only, but also of the universal Deluge. Both these
we have shewn in their Causes; The one from the Form of that Earth, and
the other from the Fall of it into the Abyss: And tho’ we had not been
made acquainted with these things by Antiquity, we might, in
Contemplation of the Causes, have truly conceiv’d them as Properties or
Incidents to the first Earth. But as to the Deluge, I do not say, that
we might have calculated the Time, Manner, and other Circumstances of
it: These things were regulated by Providence, in subordination to the
moral World; but that there would be, at one Time or other, a Disruption
of that Earth, or of the great Abyss, and in Consequence of it, an
universal Deluge; so far, I think, the Light of a Theory might carry us.

Farthermore, in Consequence of this Disruption of the primæval Earth, at
the Deluge, the present Earth was made hollow and cavernous, [_Theor.
Book iii. chap. 7, and 8._] and by that means, (due Preparations being
used) capable of _Combustion_, or of perishing by an universal Fire:
Yet, to speak ingenuously, this is as hard a Step to be made, in virtue
of natural Causes, as any in the whole _Theory_. But in Recompence of
that Defect, the Conflagration is so plainly and literally taught us in
Scripture, and avow’d by Antiquity, that it can fall under no dispute,
as to the Thing it self; and as to a Capacity or Disposition to it in
the present Earth, that I think is sufficiently made out.

Then, the Conflagration admitted, in that way it is explain’d in the
third Book; the Earth, you see, is, by that Fire, reduc’d to a second
Chaos. A Chaos truly so call’d; and from that, as from the first, arises
another Creation, or _new Heavens_ and a _new Earth_; by the same
Causes, and in the same Form, with the _paradisiacal_. This is the
_Renovation_ of the World; the _Restitution_ of all Things mention’d
both by Scripture and Antiquity; and by the Prophet _Isaiah_, St.
_Peter_ and St. _John_, call’d the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_: With
this, as the last Period, and most glorious Scene of all human Affairs,
our _Theory_ concludes, as to this Method of Causes, whereof we are now
speaking.

I say, here it Ends as to the _Method of Causes_: For tho’ we pursue the
Earth still farther, even to its last Dissolution, which is call’d the
Consummation of all Things; yet all that we have superadded upon that
Occasion, is but problematical, and may, without Prejudice to the
_Theory_, be argued and disputed on either Hand. I do not know, but that
our Conjectures there may be well grounded; but however, not springing
so directly from the same Root, or, at least, not by Ways so clear and
visible, I leave that Part undecided: Especially seeing we pretend to
write no more than the _Theory of the Earth_, and therefore as we begin
no higher than the _Chaos_, so we are not oblig’d to go any farther than
to the last State of a terrestrial Consistency; which is that of the new
Heavens and the new Earth.

This is the first natural Proof, from the Order of Causes: The second is
from the Consideration of Effects; namely, of such Effects as are
already in being: And therefore this Proof can extend only to that Part
of the _Theory_, that explains the present and past Form and Phænomena
of the Earth. What is future, must be left to a farther Trial, when the
Thing comes to pass, and present themselves to be examin’d and compar’d
with the Hypothesis. As to the present Form of the Earth, we call all
Nature to Witness for us; the Rocks and the Mountains, the Hills and the
Valleys, the deep and wide Sea, and the Caverns of the Ground: Let these
speak, and tell their Origin: How the Body of the Earth came to be thus
torn and mangled? If this strange and irregular Structure was not the
Effect of a Ruin; and of such a Ruin as was universal over the Face of
the whole Globe. But we have given such a full Explication of this, in
the first Part of the Theory, from _chap. ix._ to the End of that
Treatise, that we dare stand to the Judgment of any that reads those
four Chapters to determine if the Hypothesis does not answer to all
those Phænomena, easy and adequately.

The next Phænomenon to be consider’d, is the _Deluge_, with its
Adjuncts: This also is fully explain’d by our Hypothesis, in the iid,
iiid, and vith Chapters of the first Book: Where it is shewn, that the
_Mosaical Deluge_, that is, an universal Inundation of the whole Earth,
above the Tops of the highest Mountains, made by a breaking open of the
great Abyss, (for thus far _Moses_ leads us) is fully explain’d by this
Hypothesis, and cannot be conceiv’d in any other Method hitherto
propos’d. There are no Sources or Stores of Water sufficient for such an
Effect, that may be drawn upon the Earth, and drawn off again, but by
supposing such an Abyss, and such a Disruption of it, as the Theory
represents.

Lastly, As to the Phænomena of _Paradise_, and the ante-diluvian World,
we have set them down in Order in the second Book; and apply’d to each
of them its proper Explication, from the same Hypothesis. We have also
given an Account of that Character which Antiquity always assign’d to
the first Age of the World, or the Golden Age, as they call’d it;
namely, _Equality of Seasons_ throughout the Year, or a perpetual
Equinox. We have also taken in all the Adjuncts or Concomitants of these
States, as they are mention’d in Scripture. _The Longevity_ of the
Ante-diluvians, and the Declension or their Age by degrees, after the
Flood: As also that wonderful Phænomenon, the _Rainbow_; which appear’d
to _Noah_ for a Sign, that the Earth should never undergo a second
Deluge. And we have shewn [_Theor._ _Book ii. ch. 5._] wherein the Force
and Propriety of that Sign consisted, for confirming _Noah_’s Faith in
the Promise and in the Divine Veracity.

Thus far we have explain’d the past Phænomena of the natural World: The
rest are Futurities, which still lie hid in their Causes; and we cannot
properly prove a Theory from Effects that are not yet in Being: But so
far as they are foretold in Scripture, both as to Substance and
Circumstance, in Prosecution of the same Principles we have ante-dated
their Birth, and shew’d how they will come to pass. We may therefore, I
think, reasonably conclude, that this Theory has perform’d its Task and
answer’d its Title; having given an Account of all the general Changes
of the natural World as far as either Sacred History looks backwards, or
Sacred Prophecy looks forwards; so far as the one tells us what is past
in Nature, and the other what is to come; And if all this be nothing but
an Appearance of Truth, ’tis a kind of Fatality upon us to be deceiv’d.

So much for natural Evidence, from the Causes or Effects: We now proceed
to Scripture, which will make the greatest Part of this Review. The
Sacred Basis upon which the whole Theory stands, is the Doctrine of St.
_Peter_, deliver’d in his _second Epistle_ and _third Chapter_,
concerning the _triple Order_ and Succession of the Heavens and the
Earth; that comprehends the whole Extent of our Theory; which indeed is
but a large Commentary upon St. _Peter_’s Text. The Apostle sets out a
three-fold State of the Heavens and Earth, with some general Properties
of each, taken from their different Constitution and different Fate. The
Theory takes the same three-fold State of the Heavens and the Earth; and
explains more particularly, wherein their different Constitution
consists; and how, under the Conduct of Providence, their different Fate
depends upon it. Let us set down the Apostle’s Words, with the Occasion
of them; and their plain Sense, according to the most easy and natural
Explication.

    _2 Pet. iii. ver. 3. Knowing this first, that there shall come in
    the last Days Scoffers, walking after their own Lusts._

    4. _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._

    5. _For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the Word of
    God, the Heavens were of old, and the Earth consisting of Water and
    by Water._

    6. _Whereby the World that then was, being overflowed with Water,
    perished._

    7. _But the Heavens and the Earth that are now, by the same Word,
    are kept in Store, reserved unto Fire against the Day of Judgment,
    and Perdition of ungodly Men._—

    10. _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._

    13. _Nevertheless we, according to his Promise, look for new Heavens
    and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousness._

This is the whole Discourse so far as relates to our Subject: St.
_Peter_, you see, had met with some that scoff’d at the future
Destruction of the World, and the coming of our Saviour; and they were
Men, it seems, that pretended to Philosophy and Argument; and they use
this Argument for their Opinion, _Seeing there has been no Change in
Nature, or in the World, from the Beginning to this Time, why should we
think there will be any Change for the future?_

The Apostle answers to this, that they willingly forget, or are
ignorant, that there were Heavens of old, and an Earth, so and so
constituted; consisting of Water and by Water; by reason whereof that
World, or those Heavens and that Earth, perish’d in a Deluge of Water.
But, saith he, the Heavens and the Earth, that are now, are of another
Constitution, fitted and reserved to another Fate; namely to perish by
Fire: And after these are perish’d, there will be new Heavens and a new
Earth, according to God’s Promise.

This is an easy Paraphrase, and the plain and genuine Sense of the
Apostle’s Discourse; and no Body, I think, would ever look after any
other Sense, if this did not carry them out of their usual Road, and
point to Conclusions which they did not fancy. The Sense, you see, hits
the Objection directly, or the Cavil which these Scoffers made; and
tells them, that they vainly pretend that there hath been no change in
the World since the Beginning; for there was one sort of Heavens and
Earth before the Flood, and another Sort now, the first having been
destroy’d at the Deluge. So that the Apostle’s Argument stands upon this
Foundation, that there is a Diversity betwixt the present Heavens and
Earth, and the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth; take away that, and you
take away all the Force of his Answer.

Then as to his _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_ after the Conflagration,
they must be material and natural, in the same Sense and Signification
with the former Heavens and Earth; unless you will offer open Violence
to the Text. So that this Triplicity of the Heavens and the Earth, is
the first, obvious, plain Sense of the Apostle’s Discourse; which every
one would readily accept, if it did not draw after it a long Train of
Consequences, and lead them into other Worlds than they ever thought of
before, or are willing to enter upon now.

But we shall have Occasion by and by, to examine this Text more fully in
all its Circumstances: Give me leave in the mean time to observe, that
St. _Paul_ also implies that _triple Creation_ which St. _Peter_
expresses. St. _Paul_, I say, in the viiith Chapter to the _Romans_,
ver. 20, 21. tells us of a _Creation_ that will be _redeem’d from
Vanity_, which are the new Heavens and new Earth to come. A _Creation in
Subjection to Vanity_; which is the present State of the World; and a
_Creation_ that was subjected to Vanity, in hopes of being restored,
which was the first _Paradisiacal_ Creation: And these are the three
States of the natural World, which make the Subject of our Theory.

To these two Places of St. _Peter_ and St. _Paul_, I might add that
third in St. _John_, concerning the new Heavens and new Earth, with that
distinguishing Character, that the Earth was _without a Sea_: As this
distinguisheth it from the present Earth, so, being a _Restitution_ or
_Restauration_, as we noted before, it must be the same with some former
Earth; and consequently it implies, that there was another precedent
State of the natural World, to which this is a Restitution. These three
Places I alledge, as comprehending and confirming the Theory in its full
Extent; But we do not suppose them all of the same Force and Clearness;
St. _Peter_ leads the Way, and gives Light and Strength to the other
two: When a Point is prov’d by one clear Text, we allow others, as
Auxiliaries, that are not of the same Clearness; but being open’d,
receive Light from the primary Text, and reflect it upon the Argument.

So much for the Theory in general: We will now take one or two principal
Heads of it, which virtually contain all the rest, and examine them more
strictly and particularly, in reference to their Agreement with
Scripture. The two Heads we pitch upon, shall be our Explication of the
Deluge, and our Explication of the new Heavens and new Earth: We told
you before, these two were as the Hinges, upon which all the Theory
moves, and which hold the Parts of it in firm Union one with another. As
to the Deluge, if I have explain’d that aright, by the Disruption of the
great Abyss, and the Dissolution of the Earth that cover’d it, all the
rest follows in such a Chain of Consequences as cannot be broken.
Wherefore, in order to the Proof of that Explication, and of all that
depends upon it, I will make bold to lay down this Proposition, _That
our Hypothesis concerning the universal Deluge, is not only more
agreeable to Reason and Philosophy, than any other yet propos’d to the
World, but is also more agreeable to Scripture_: Namely, to such Places
of Scripture as reflect upon the _Deluge_, the _Abyss_, and the Form of
the _first Earth_: And particularly to the _History of Noah’s Flood, as
recorded by Moses_. If I can make this good, it will, doubtless, give
Satisfaction to all that are free and intelligent; and I desire their
Patience, if I proceed slowly and by several Steps. We will divide our
Task into Parts, and examine them separately; first, by Scripture in
general, and then by _Moses_ his History and Description of the Flood.

Our Hypothesis of the Deluge consists of three principal Heads, or
differs remarkably in three Things from the common Explication. First,
in that we suppose the ante-diluvian Earth to have been of another Form
and Constitution from the present Earth; with the Abyss placed under it.

Secondly, In that we suppose the Deluge to have been made, not by any
Inundation of the Sea, or overflowing of Fountains and Rivers; nor
(principally) by an Excess of Rains; but by a real Dissolution of the
exteriour Earth, and Disruption of the Abyss which it cover’d: These are
the two principal Points; to which may be added, as a Corollary,

Thirdly, That the Deluge was not in the nature of a standing Pool; the
Waters lying every where level, of an equal Depth, and with an uniform
Surface; but was made by a Fluctuation and Commotion of the Abyss upon
the Disruption: Which Commotion being over, the Waters retired into
their Channels, and let the dry Land appear.

These are the most material and fundamental Parts of our Hypothesis; and
these being prov’d consonant to Scripture, there can be no doubt of the
rest.

We begin with the first: That the ante-diluvian Earth was of another
Form and Constitution from the present Earth, with the Abyss placed
under it: This is confirm’d in Scripture, both by such Places as assert
a Diversity in general; and by other Places that intimate to us, wherein
that Diversity consisted, and what was the form of the first Earth. That
Discourse of St. _Peter_’s, which we have set before you concerning the
past, present and future Heavens and Earth, is so full a Proof of this
Diversity in general, that you must either allow it, or make the
Apostle’s Argumentation of no Effect: He speaks plainly of the natural
World, _The Heavens and the Earth_; and he makes a plain Distinction, or
rather Opposition, betwixt those before and after the Flood. So that the
least we can conclude from his Words, is a Diversity betwixt them; in
answer to that Identity or Immutability of Nature, which the Scoffers
pretended to have been ever since the Beginning.

But tho’ the Apostle, to me, speaks plainly of the _natural World_,
and distinguishes that which was before the Flood, from the present;
yet there are some that will allow neither of these to be contain’d in
St. _Peter_’s Words; and by that means would make this whole Discourse
of little or no Effect, as to our Purpose: And seeing we, on the
contrary, have made it the chief Scripture-Basis of the whole Theory
of the Earth, we are oblig’d to free it from those false Glosses or
Mis-interpretations, that lessen the Force of its Testimony, or make
it wholly ineffectual.

These Interpreters say, that St. _Peter_ meant no more than to mind
these Scoffers, that the World was once destroy’d by a Deluge of Water;
meaning the _Animate World_, Mankind and living Creatures: And that it
shall be destroyed again by another Element, namely, by Fire. So as
there is no Opposition or Diversity betwixt the two natural Worlds,
taught or intended by the Apostle; but only in reference to their
different Fate or Manner of perishing, and not of their different Nature
or Constitution.

Here are two main Points, you see, wherein our Interpretations of this
Discourse of the Apostle’s differ. First, in that they make the Apostle
(in that _sixth verse_) to understand only the World _Animate_, or Men
in brute Creatures: That these were indeed destroy’d, but not the
natural World, or the Form and Constitution of the then Earth and
Heavens. Secondly, that there is no Diversity or Opposition made by St.
_Peter_ betwixt the antient Heavens and Earth, and the present, as to
their Form and Constitution. We pretend that these are Mis-apprehensions
or Mis-representations of the Sense of the Apostle in both respects, and
offer these Reasons to prove them to be so.

For the first Point; That the Apostle speaks here of the natural World,
particularly in the 6th verse; and that it perished, as well as the
animate, these Considerations seem to prove.

First, because the Argument or Ground these Scoffers went upon, was
taken from the natural World, its Constancy and Permanency in the same
State from the Beginning; therefore if the Apostle answers _ad idem_,
and takes away their Argument, he must understand the same natural
World, and shew that it hath been chang’d, or hath perish’d.

You will say, it may be, the Apostle doth not deny, nor take away the
Ground they went upon, but denies the Consequence they made from it;
that _therefore there would be no Change because there had been none_.
No, neither doth he do this, if by the _World_ in the 6th verse, he
understands Mankind only; for their Ground was this, _There hath been no
Change in the natural World_; their Consequence this, _Therefore there
will be none_, nor any Conflagration. Now the Apostle’s Answer according
to you, is this, _You forget that Mankind hath been destroy’d in a
Deluge._ And what then? What’s this to the natural World, whereof they
were speaking? This takes away neither Antecedent nor Consequent,
neither Ground nor Inference nor any way toucheth their Argument, which
proceeded from the natural World, to the natural World. Therefore you
must either suppose that the Apostle takes away their Ground, or he
takes away nothing.

Secondly, What is it that the Apostle tells these Scoffers they were
ignorant of? That there was a Deluge that destroy’d Mankind? They could
not be ignorant of that, nor pretend to be so: It was therefore the
Constitution of those old Heavens and Earth, and the Change or
Destruction of them at the Deluge, that they were ignorant of, or did
not attend to; and of this the Apostle minds them. These Scoffers appear
to have been _Jews_ by the Phrase they use, _Since the Fathers fell
asleep_, which in both Parts of it is a _Judaical_ Expression; and does
St. _Peter_ tell the _Jews_ that had _Moses_ read to them every Sabbath,
that _they were ignorant that Mankind was once destroyed with a Deluge
in the Days of Noah_? Or could they pretend to be ignorant of that
without making themselves ridiculous both to _Jews_ and Christians[6]?
Besides, these do not seem to have been of the Vulgar amongst them, for
they bring a Philosophical Argument for their Opinion; and also in their
very Argument they refer to the History of the Old Testament, in saying,
_Since the Fathers fell asleep_, amongst which Fathers, _Noah_ was one
of the most remarkable.

_Thirdly_, The Design of the Apostle is to prove to them, or to dispose
them to the Belief of the Conflagration, or future destruction of the
World; which I suppose you will not deny to be a Destruction of the
natural World; therefore to prove or persuade this, he must use an
Argument taken from a precedent Destruction of the natural World; for to
give an instance of the perishing of Mankind only, would not reach home
to his Purpose. And you are to observe here, that the Apostle does not
proceed against them barely by Authority; for what would that have
booted? If these Scoffers would have submitted to Authority, they had
already the Authority of the Prophets and Apostles in this Point: but he
deals with them at their own Weapon, and opposes Reasons to Reasons;
What hath been done may be done, and if the natural World hath been once
destroyed, ’tis not hard, nor unreasonable to suppose those Prophecies
to be true, that say, it shall be destroyed again.

_Fourthly_, Unless we understand here the natural World, we make the
Apostle both redundant in his Discourse, and also very obscure in an
easy Argument: If his Design was only to tell them that Mankind was once
destroy’d in a Deluge, what’s that to the Heavens and the Earth? The 5th
verse would be superfluous; which yet he seems to make the foundation of
his Discourse. He might have told them how Mankind had perished before
with a Deluge, and aggravated that Destruction as much as he pleas’d,
without telling them how the Heavens and the Earth were constituted
then; what was that to the Purpose, if it had no Dependence or
Connection with the other? In the precedent Chapter, _ver. 5._ when he
speaks only of the Floods destroying Mankind, he mentions nothing of the
Heavens or the Earth; and if you make him to intend no more here, what
he says more is superfluous.

I also add, that you make the Apostle very obscure and operose in a very
easy Argument: How easy had it been for him, without this _Apparatus_,
to have told them, as he did before, that God brought a Flood upon the
World of the ungodly; and not given us so much Difficulty to understand
his Sense, or such a Suspicion and Appearance, that he intended
something more? For that there is at least a great Appearance and
Tendency to a farther Sense, I think none can deny; And St. _Austin_,
_Didymus Alex. Bede_, as we shall see hereafter, understood it plainly
of the natural World; also modern Expositors and Criticks; as _Cajetan_,
_Estius_, _Drusius_, _Heinsius_, have extended it to the natural World,
more or less, tho’ they had no Theory to mislead them, nor so much as an
Hypothesis to support them; but attended only to the Tenor of the
Apostle’s Discourse, which constrained them to that Sense, in whole or
in Part.

Fifthly, The Opposition carries it upon the natural World: The
Opposition lies betwixt the οἱ ἔκπαλαι οὐρανοὶ καὶ γῆ and οἱ νῦν οὐρανοὶ
καὶ γῆ the Heavens that were of old, and the Earth, and the present
Heavens and Earth, or the two natural Worlds: And if they will not allow
them to be oppos’d in their Natures (which yet we shall prove by and by)
at least they must be oppos’d in their Fate; and as this is to perish by
Fire, so that perished by Water; and if it perish’d by Water, it
perish’d; which is all we contend for at present.

Lastly, If we would be as easily govern’d in the Exposition of this
Place, as we are of other Places of Scripture, it would be enough to
suggest, that in Reason and Fairness of Interpretation, the same World
is destroy’d in the 6th _verse_, that was describ’d in the foregoing
_verse_; but it is the natural World that is describ’d there, the
Heavens and the Earth, so and so constituted; and therefore in Fairness
of Interpretation they ought to be understood here; that World being the
Subject that went immediately before, and there being nothing in the
Words that restrains them to the animate World or to Mankind. In the iid
_ch. ver. 5._ the Apostle does restrain the Word κόσμος by adding
ἀσεβῶν, _the World of the ungodly_; but here ’tis not only illimited,
but, according to the Context, both preceding and following, to be
extended to the natural World. I say by the following Context too; for
so it answers to the World that is to perish by Fire; which will reach
the Frame of Nature as well as Mankind.

For a Conclusion of this first Point, I will set down St. _Austin_’s
Judgment in this Case; who in several Parts of his Works hath
interpreted this Place of St. _Peter_, _of the natural World_. As to the
Heavens, he hath these Words in his Expositian upon _Genesis_, _Hos
etiam aërios cœlos quondam periisse Diluvio, in quâdam earum, quæ
Canonica appellantur, Epistolâ legimus. We read in one of the Epistles
called Canonical_, meaning this of St. _Peter_’s, _that the aërial
Heavens perished in the Deluge_. And he concerns himself there to let
you know that it was not the starry Heavens that were destroy’d; the
Waters could not reach so high, but the Regions of our Air. Then
afterwards he hath these Words, _Faciliùs eos (cœlos) secundum illius
Epistolæ authoritatem credimus periisse, & alios, sicut ibi scribitur
repositos. We do more easily believe, according to the Authority of that
Epistle, those Heavens to have perished; and others, as it is there
written, substituted in their Place_. In like manner, and to the same
Sense, he hath these Words upon _Psal. ci._ _Aerii utique cœli perierunt
ut propinqui Terris, secundum quod dicuntur volucres cœli; sunt autem &
cœli cœlorum, superiores in Firmamento, sed utrùm & ipsi perituri sint
igne, an hi soli, qui etiam diluvio perierunt, disceptatio est aliquanto
scrupulosior inter doctos._ And in his Book _de Civ. Dei_, he hath
several Passages to the same purpose, _Quemadmodum in Apostolicâ illâ
Epistolâ à toto Pars accipitur, quod diluvio periisse dictus est mundus,
quamvis sola ejus cum suis cœlis pars ima perierit._ These being to the
same Effect with the first Citation, I need not make them English; and
this last Place refers to the Earth as well as the Heavens, as several
other places in St. _Austin_ do, whereof we shall give you an Account,
when we come to shew his Judgment concerning the second Point, _the
diversity of the ante-diluvian and post-diluvian World_: This being but
a Foretaste of his good Will and Inclinations towards this Doctrine.

These Considerations alledg’d, so far as I can judge, are full and
unanswerable Proofs, that this Discourse of the Apostle’s comprehends
and refers to the natural World; and consequently they warrant our
Interpretation in this Particular, and destroy the contrary. We have but
one Step more to make good, _That there was a Change made in this
natural World at the Deluge_, according to the Apostle; and this is to
confute the second Part of their Interpretation, which supposeth that
St. _Peter_ makes no Distinction or Opposition betwixt the ante-diluvian
Heavens and Earth, and the present Heavens and Earth, in that respect.

This second Difference betwixt us, methinks is still harsher than the
first; and contrary to the very Form, as well as to the Matter of the
Apostle’s Discourse. For there is a plain Antithesis, or Opposition made
betwixt the Heavens and the Earth of old (_ver. the 5th_) and the
Heavens and the Earth that are now (_ver. the 7th_) οἱ ἔκπαλαι οῦρανοὶ
καὶ ἡ γῆ, and οἱ νῦν οῦρανοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ, and the adversitive Particle, δὲ
_but_, you see marks the Opposition; so that it is full and plain
according to Grammar and Logick. And that the Parts or Members of this
Opposition differ in Nature from one another, is certain from this,
because otherwise the Apostle’s Argument or Discourse is of no Effect,
concludes nothing to the Purpose; he makes no Answer to the Objection,
nor proves any thing against the Scoffers, unless you admit that
Diversity. For they said, _All Things had been the same from the
Beginning in the natural World_; and unless he say, as he manifestly
does, that there hath been a Change in Nature, and that the Heavens and
Earth that are now, are different from the ancient Heavens and Earth
which perish’d at the Flood, he says nothing to destroy their Argument,
nor to confirm the prophetical Doctrine of the future Destruction of the
natural World.

This, I think, would be enough to satisfy any clear and free Mind
concerning the Meaning of the Apostle; but because I desire to give as
full a Light to this Place as I can, and to put the Sense of it out of
Controversy, if possible, for the future, I will make some farther
Remarks to confirm this Exposition.

And we may observe that several of those Reasons which we have given to
prove, that the _natural World_ is understood by St. _Peter_, are double
Reasons; and do also prove the other Point in Question, a _Diversity
betwixt the two natural Worlds_, the ante-diluvian and the present. As
for Instance, unless you admit this Diversity betwixt the two natural
Worlds, you make the 5th _verse_ in this _Chapter_ superfluous and
useless; and you must suppose the Apostle to make an Inference here
without Premises. In the _vith verse_ he makes an Inference,
[7]_Whereby_ the World, that then was perish’d in a Deluge; What does
this _whereby_ relate to? _by Reason_ of what? Sure of the particular
Constitution of the Heavens and the Earth immediately before describ’d.
Neither would it have signified any thing to the Scoffers, for the
Apostle to have told them how the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth were
constituted, if they were constituted just in the same Manner as the
present.

Besides, what is it, as I ask’d before, that the Apostle tells these
Scoffers they were ignorant of? does he not say formally and expresly
(_ver. 5._) that they were ignorant that the Heavens and the Earth were
constituted so and so, before the Flood? But if they were constituted as
these present Heavens and Earth are, they were not ignorant of their
Constitution? Nor did pretend to be ignorant, for their own (mistaken)
Argument supposeth it.

But before we proceed any further, give me leave to note the Impropriety
of our Translation, in the _5th verse_, or latter Part of it; Ἐξ ὕδατος
καὶ δὶ ὕδατων (vel δὶ ὔδατος) συνισῶτα. This we translate _standing in
the Water, and out of the Water_, which is done manifestly in compliance
with the present Form of the Earth, and the Notions of the Translators,
and not according to the natural Force and Sense of the _Greek_ Words.
If one met with this Sentence[8] in a _Greek_ Author, who would ever
render it _standing in the Water, and out of the Water_? Nor do I know
any _Latin_ Translator that hath ventur’d to render them in that Sense,
nor any _Latin_ Father; St. _Austin_ and St. _Jerome_ I’m sure do not,
but _Consistens ex aquâ_, or _de aquâ, & per aquam_; for that later
Phrase also συνεσάναι δὶ ὕδατος, does not with so good Propriety signify
_to stand in the Water_, as to consist or subsist by Water, or by the
Help of Water, _Tanquam per causam sustinentem_, as St. _Austin_ and
_Jerome_ render it. Neither does that Instance they give from _1 Pet.
iii. 20._ prove any thing to the contrary, for the Ark was sustain’d by
the Waters, and the _English_ does render it accordingly.

The Translation being thus rectified, you see the ante-diluvian Heavens
and Earth consisted of Water, and by Water; which makes Way for a second
Observation to prove our Sense of the Text; for if you admit no
Diversity betwixt those Heavens and Earth, and the present, shew us
pray, how the present Heavens and Earth consist of Water, and by Water?
What watry Constitution have they? The Apostle implies rather, that _the
new Heavens and Earth_ have a fiery Constitution. We have now Meteors of
all Sorts in the Air, Winds, Hail, Snow, Lightning, Thunder, and all
Things engender’d of fiery Exhalations, as well as we have Rain; but
according to our Theory, _Book ii. c. 5._ the ante-diluvian Heavens, of
all these Meteors had none but Dews and Vapours, or watry Meteors only;
and therefore might very aptly be said by the Apostle to be _constituted
of Water_, or to have a watry σίζασις. Then the Earth was said to
_consist by Water_, because it was built upon it, and at first was
sustain’d by it. And when such a Key as this is put into our Hands, that
does so easily unlock this hard Passage, and makes it intelligible,
according to the just Force of the Words, why should we pertinaciously
adhere to an[9] Interpretation, that neither agrees with the Words, nor
makes any Sense that is considerable.

Thirdly, If the Apostle had made the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth the
same with the present, his Apodosis in the 7th verse, should not have
been οἱ δε νῦν οῦρανοι, but καὶ οἱ αὐτοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ τεθησαυρισμένοι εἰσί,
&c. I say, it would not have been by way of Antithesis, but of Identity
or Continuation; _And the same Heavens and Earth are kept in store
reserv’d unto Fire_, &c. Accordingly we see the Apostle speaks thus, as
to the _Logos_, or the _Word of God, ver. 7._ τῷ αὐτῷ λόγῳ, _by the same
Word of God_; where the Thing is the same, he expresseth it as the same;
and if it had been the same Heavens and Earth, as well as the same Word
of God, why should he use a Mark of Opposition for the one, and of
Identity for the other? To this I do not see what can be fairly
answer’d.

Fourthly, The ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth were different from the
present, because, as the Apostle intimates, they were such, and so
constituted, as made them obnoxious to a Deluge; whereas ours are of
such a Form, as makes them incapable of a Deluge, and obnoxious to a
Conflagration; the just contrary Fate, _Theor._ _Book i. c. 2._

If you say there was nothing of natural Tendency or Disposition in
either World to their respective Fate, but the first might as well have
perished by Fire as Water, and this by Water as by Fire, you unhinge all
Nature and natural Providence in that Method, and contradict one main
Scope of the Apostle in this Discourse. His first Scope is to assert,
and mind them of that Diversity there was betwixt the antient Heavens
and Earth, and the present; and from that, to prove against those
Scoffers, that there had been a Change and Revolution in Nature: And his
second Scope seems to be this, to shew that Diversity to be such, as,
under the divine Conduct, leads to a different Fate, and expos’d that
World to a Deluge; for when he had describ’d the Constitution of the
first Heavens and Earth, he subjoins, δὶ ὧν ὅ τοτε κόσμος ὑδατι
κατακλυοθεὶς ἀπόλετο. _Quia talis erat_, saith _Grotius_, _qualem
diximus, constitutio & Terræ & Cœli._ _WHEREBY the then World perish’d
in a Flood of Water._ This _whereby_ notes some kind of casual
Dependance, and must relate to some Means or Conditions precedent. It
cannot relate to _Logos_, or _the Word of God_, Grammar will not permit
that; therefore it must relate to the State of the ante-diluvian Heavens
and Earth immediately premis’d: And to what purpose indeed should he
premise the Description of those Heavens and Earth, if it was not to lay
a Ground for this Inference?

Having given these Reasons for the Necessity of this interpretation: in
the last place, let us consider St. _Austin_’s Judgment and his Sense
upon this Place, as to the Point in Question; as also the Reflections
that some other of the Ancients have made upon this Doctrine of St.
_Peter_’s. _Didymus Alexandrinus_, who was for some time St. _Jerome_’s
Master, made such a severe Reflection upon it, that he said this Epistle
was corrupted, and should not be admitted into the Canon, because it
taught the Doctrine of a _triple_ or _triform World_ in this third
Chapter; as you may see in his _Enarr. in Epist. Canonicas_. Now this
three-fold World is first that in the _6th_ verse, _The World that then
was_. In the _7th_ verse, _The Heavens and the Earth that are now_. And
in the _13th_ verse, _We expect new Heavens and a new Earth, according
to his Promise._ This seems to be a fair Account that St. _Peter_ taught
the Doctrine of a triple World; and I quote this Testimony, to shew what
St. _Peter_’s Words do naturally import, even in the Judgment of one
that was not of his Mind; and a Man is not prone to make an Exposition
against his own Opinion, unless he thinks the Words very pregnant and
express.

But St. _Austin_ owns the Authority of this Epistle, and of this
Doctrine, as deriv’d from it, taking notice of this Text of St.
_Peter_’s in several Parts of his Works. We have noted three or four
Places already to this purpose, and we may further take notice of
several Passages in his Treatise, _de Civ. Dei_, which confirm our
Exposition. In his xxth Book, _ch._ xxiv. he Disputes against
_Porphyry_, who had the same Principles with these Eternalists in the
Text; or, if I may so call them Incorruptarians; and thought the World
never had, nor ever would undergo any Change, especially, as to the
Heavens. St. _Austin_ could not urge _Porphyry_ with the Authority of
St. _Peter_, for he had no Veneration for the Christian Oracles, but it
seems he had some for the _Jewish_; and arguing against him, upon that
Text in the Psalms, _Cœli peribunt_, he shews, upon Occasion, how he
understands St. _Peter_’s Destruction of the old World. _Legitur Cœlum &
Terra transibunt, Mundus transit, sed puto quod præterit transit,
transibunt aliquantò mitius dicta sunt quam peribunt. In Epistolà quoque
Petri Apostoli, ubi aquâ inundatus, qui tum erat, periisse dictus est
Mundus, satis clarum est quæ pars mundi a toto significata est, &
quatenus periisse dicta sit, & qui Cœli repositi igni reservandi._ This
he explains more fully afterwards by subjoining a Caution (which we
cited before) that we must not understand this Passion of St. _Peter_’s
concerning the Destruction of the ante-diluvian World, to take in the
whole Universe, and the highest Heavens, but only the aerial Heavens,
and the sublunary World. _In Apostolicâ illâ Epistola a toto pars
accipitur, quod Diluvio periisse dictus est Mundus quamvis sola ejus,
cum suis Cœlis pars ima perierit. In that Apostolical Epistle, a part is
signified by the whole, when the World is said to have perished in the
Deluge, although the lower part of it only, with the Heavens belonging
to it, perished_; that is, the Earth with the Regions of the Air that
belong to it. And consonant to this, in his Exposition of that ci.
_Psalm_, upon those Words, _The Heavens are the work of thy Hands; they
shall perish, but thou shalt endure._ This perishing of the Heavens, he
says, St. _Peter_ tells us, hath been once done already, namely, at the
Deluge: _Apertè dixit hoc Apostolus Petrus, Cœli erant olim & Terra, de
aquâ & per aquam constituti, Dei verbo; per quod qui factus est mundus,
aquâ inundatus deperiit; Terra autem & Cœli qui nunc sunt, igni
reservantur. Jam ergo dixit periisse Cœlos per Diluvium._

These Places shew us, that St. _Austin_ understood St. _Peter_’s
Discourse to aim at the natural World, and his _periit_ or _periisse_
(ver. 6) to be of the same Force as _peribunt_ in the _Psalms_, when
’tis said the Heavens _shall perish_; and consequently that the Heavens
and the Earth, in this Father’s Opinion, were as really changed and
transformed at the Time of the Flood, as they will be at the
Conflagration. But we must not expect from St. _Austin_, or any of the
Antients, a distinct Account of this Apostolical Doctrine, as if they
knew and acknowledg’d the Theory of the first World; that does not at
all appear, but what they said was either from broken Tradition, or
extorted from them by the Force of the Apostle’s Words and their own
Sincerity.

There are yet other Places in St. _Austin_ worthy our Consideration upon
this Subject; especially his Exposition of this iiid Chapter of St.
_Peter_, as we find it in the same Treatise, _de Civ. Dei_, _cap._
xviii. There he compares again, the Destruction of that World at the
Deluge, with that which shall be at the Conflagration, and supposeth
both the Heavens and Earth to have perish’d: _Apostolus commemorans
factum ante Diluvium, videtur admonuisse quodammodo quatenùs in fine
hujus seculi mundum istum periturum esse credamus. Nam & illo tempore
periisse dixit, qui tunc erat, mundum; nec solum orbem terræ, verum
etiam cœlos._ Then giving his usual Caution, that the Stars and starry
Heavens should not be comprehended in that mundane Destruction, he goes
on, _Atque hoc modo_ (penè totus aër) _cum terra perierat; cujus Terræ
utique prior facies_ (nempe ante-diluviana) _fuerat deleta Diluvia. Qui
autem nunc sunt cœli & terra eodem verba repositi sunt igni reservandi;
Proinde qui Cœli & quæ Terra id est, qui mundus, pro eo mundo qui
Diluvio periit, ex eádem aquâ repositus est, ipse igni novissimo
reservatur._ Here you see St. _Austin_’s Sense upon the whole Matter;
which is this, that the natural World, the Earth with the Heavens about
it, was destroyed and chang’d at the Deluge into the present Heavens and
Earth; which shall again, in like Manner, be destroyed and chang’d by
the last Fire. Accordingly, in another place, to add no more, he saith,
the Figure of the (sublunary) World shall be changed at the
Conflagration, as it was chang’d at the Deluge: _Tunc figura hujus
mundi_, &c. _cap._ xvi.

Thus you see, we have St. _Austin_ on our side, in both Parts of our
Interpretation; that St. _Peter_’s Discourse is to be referr’d to the
natural inanimate World, and that the present natural World is distinct
and different from that which was before the Deluge. And St. _Austin_
having applied this expresly to St. _Peter_’s Doctrine by way of
Commentary, it will free us from any Crime or Affectation of Singularity
in the Exposition we have given of that Place.

Venerable _Bede_ hath followed St. _Austin_’s Footsteps in this
Doctrine; for, interpreting St. _Peter_’s _original World_ (Αρχαῖος
Κόσμος) 2 _Pet._ ii. 5. he refers both that and this (_chap._ iii. 6.)
to the natural inanimate World, which he supposeth to have undergone a
Change at the Deluge. His Words are these, _Idem ipse mundus est_ (nempe
quoad materiam) _in quo nunc humanum genus habitat, quem inhabitaverunt
hi qui ante diluvium fuerunt, sed tamen rectè Originalis Mundus, quasi
alius dicitur; quia sicut in consequentibus hujus Epistolæ scriptum
continetur, Ille tunc mundus aquâ inundatus periit. Cælis videlicet qui
erant prius, id est, cunctis aëris hujus turbulenti spatiis, aquarum
accrescentiun altitudine consumptis, ac Terrâ in alteram faciem,
excedentibus aquis, immutatâ. Nam etsi montes aliqui atque convalles ab
initio facti creduntur, non tamen tanti quanti nunc in orbe cernuntur
universo. ’Tis the same World_ (namely, as to the Matter and Substance
of it) _which Mankind lives in now, and did live in before the Flood,
but yet that is truly called the ORIGINAL WORLD, being as it were
another from the present. For it is said in the Sequel of this Epistle,
that the World that was then, perished in the Deluge; namely, the
Regions of the Air were consumed by the Height and Excess of the Water;
and by the same Waters the Earth was changed into another Form or Face.
For although some Mountains and Valleys are thought to have been made
from the Beginning, yet not such great ones as now we see throughout the
whole Earth._

You see this Author does not only own a Change made at the Deluge, but
offers at a farther Explication wherein that Change consisted, _viz._
That the Mountains and Inequalities of the Earth were made greater than
they were before the Flood; and so he makes the Change, or the
Difference betwixt the two Worlds gradual, rather than specifical, if I
may so term it. But we cannot wonder at that, if he had no Principles to
carry it farther, or to make any other Sort of Change intelligible to
him. _Bede_ [_De 6 dier. creat._] also pursues the same Sense and Notion
in his Interpretation of that _Fountain_, _Gen._ ii. 5. that watered the
Face of the Earth before the Flood. And many other Transcribers of
Antiquity have recorded this Tradition concerning a Difference, gradual
or specifical, both in the ante-diluvian Heavens (_Gloss. Ordin. Gen._
ix. _de Iride. Lyran. ibid. Hist. Scholast._ _c. 35. Rab. Maurus &
Gloss. Inter. Gen._ ii. 5, 6. _Alcuin. Quæst. in Gen. inter._ 135.) and
in the ante-diluvian Earth, as the same Authors witness in other Places:
As _Hist. Schol. c. 34. Gloss. Ord. in Gen._ vii. _Alcuin. Inter. 118,
&c._ Not to Instance those that tell us the Properties of the
ante-diluvian World under the Name and Notion of _Paradise_.

Thus much concerning this remarkable Place in St. _Peter_, and the true
Exposition of it; which I have the more largely insisted upon, because I
look upon this Place as the chief Repository of that great natural
Mystery, which in Scripture is communicated to us concerning the triple
State or Revolution of the World. And of those Men that are so
scrupulous to admit the Theory we have propos’d, I would willingly know,
whether they believe the Apostle in what he says concerning the _new
Heavens_ and the _new Earth to come_? ver. 13. and if they do, why they
should not believe him as much concerning the _old Heavens_ and the _old
Earth_ past? _ver._ 5, and 6. which he mentions as formally, and
describes more distinctly than the other. But if they believe neither
past nor to come, in a natural Sense, but an unchangeable State of
Nature from the Creation to its Annihilation, I leave them then to their
Fellow-Eternalists in the Text, and to the Character or Censure the
Apostle gives them, Κατὰ τὰς ἴδιας αὐτῶν ἐπιθυμίας πορευόμενοι, Men that
go by their own private Humour and Passions, and prefer that to all
other Evidence.

They deserve this Censure, I am sure, if they do not only disbelieve,
but also scoff, at this Prophetick and Apostolick Doctrine concerning
the Vicissitudes of Nature and a triple World. The Apostle in this
Discourse does formally distinguish three Worlds (for ’tis well known
that the _Hebrews_ have no Word to signify the natural World, but use
that Periphrasis, _the Heavens_ and _the Earth_) and upon each of them
engraves a Name and Title that bears a Note of Distinction in it: He
calls them the _old Heavens and Earth_, the _present Heavens and Earth_,
and the _new Heavens and Earth_. ’Tis true, these three are one, as to
Matter and Substance; but they must differ as to Form and Properties;
otherwise what is the Ground of this Distinction and of these three
different Appellations? Suppose the _Jews_ had expected _Ezekiel_’s
Temple for the third, and last, and most perfect; and that in the Time
of the second Temple they had spoke of them with this Distinction, or
under these different Names, the _old Temple_, the _present Temple_, and
the _new Temple_ we expect; would any have understood those three of one
and the same Temple; never demolish’d, never chang’d, never rebuilt;
always the same, both as to Materials and Form? No, doubtless, but of
three several Temples succeeding one another. And have we not the same
Reason to understand this Temple of the World, whereof St. _Peter_
speaks, to be three-fold in Succession; seeing he does as plainly
distinguish it into the _old_ Heavens and Earth, the _present_ Heavens
and Earth? and the _new_ Heavens and Earth. And I do the more willingly
use this Comparison of the Temple, because it hath been thought an
Emblem of the outward World.

I know we are naturally averse to entertain any Thing that is
inconsistent with the general Frame and Texture of our own Thoughts;
that’s to begin the World again; and we often reject such things without
Examination. Neither do I wonder that the generality of Interpreters
beat down the Apostle’s Words and Sense to their own Notions; they had
no other Grounds to go upon, and Men are not willing, especially in
natural and comprehensible things, to put such a Meaning upon Scripture,
as is unintelligible to themselves; they rather venture to offer a
little Violence to the Words, that they may pitch the Sense at such a
convenient Height, as their Principles will reach to: And therefore
though some of our modern Interpreters, whom I mention’d before, have
been sensible of the natural Tendency of this Discourse of St.
_Peter_’s, and have much ado to bear off the Force of the Words, so as
not to acknowledge that they import a real Diversity betwixt the two
Worlds spoken of; yet having no Principles to guide or support them in
following that Tract, they are forc’d to stop or divert another way.
’Tis like entring into the Mouth of a Cave, we are not willing to
venture farther than the Light goes: Nor are they much to blame for
this, the Fault is only in those Persons that continue wilfully in their
Darkness; and when they cannot otherwise resist the Light, shut their
Eyes against it, or turn their Head another Way.—But I am afraid I have
staid too long upon this Argument; not for my own sake, but to satisfy
others.

You may please to remember that all that I have said hitherto, belongs
only to the first Head: To prove a _Diversity in general_ betwixt the
ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth, and the present; not expressing what
their particular Form was. And this general Diversity may be argued also
by Observations taken from _Moses_ his History of the World, before and
after the Flood: From the Longevity of the Ante-diluvians; the Rainbow
appearing after the Deluge; and the breaking open an Abyss capable to
overflow the Earth. The Heavens that had no Rain-bow, and under whose
benign and steady Influence, Men liv’d seven, eight, nine hundred Years
and upwards, [See _Theor. Book_ ii. _ch._ 5.] must have been of a
different Aspect and Constitution from the present Heavens: And that
Earth that had such an Abyss, that the Disruption of it made an
universal Deluge, must have been of another Form than the present Earth;
and those that will not admit a Diversity in the two Worlds, are bound
to give us an intelligible Account of these Phænomena: How they could
possibly be in Heavens and Earth, like the present? Or if they were
there once, why they do not continue so still, if Nature be the same?

We need say no more, as to the ante-diluvian Heavens; but as to the
Earth, we must now, according to the second part of the first Head,
enquire, if that _particular Form_, which we have assign’d it before the
Flood, be agreeable to Scripture. You know how we have described the
Form and Situation of that Earth; namely, that it was built over the
Abyss, as a regular Orb, covering and incompassing the Waters round
about, and founded, as it were, upon them. There are many Passages of
Scripture that favour this Description; some more expresly, others upon
a due Explication. To this purpose there are two express Texts in the
_Psalms_; as _Psal._ xxiv. 1, 2. _The Earth is the Lord’s, and the
Fulness thereof; the habitable World, and they that dwell therein. FOR
he has founded it upon the[10] Sea, and established it upon the Floods_.
An Earth founded upon the Seas, and establish’d upon the Waters, is not
this Earth we have describ’d? The first Earth, as it came from the Hands
of its Maker? Where can we now find in Nature such an Earth, as the Seas
and the Water for its Foundation? Neither is this Text without a second,
as a Fellow Witness to confirm the same Truth; for in _Psal._ cxxxvi.
_ver._ 4, 5, 6. we read to the same Effect, in these Words, _To him who
alone does great Wonders; to him that by Wisdom made the Heavens; to him
that stretched out the Earth above the Waters_. We can hardly express
that Form of the ante-diluvian Earth, in Words more determinate than
these are: Let us then, in the same Simplicity of Heart, follow the
Words of Scripture; seeing this literal Sense is not repugnant to
Nature, but, on the contrary, agreeable to it upon the strictest
Examination. And we cannot, without some Violence, turn the Words to any
other Sense. What tolerable Interpretation can these admit of, if we do
not allow the Earth once to have encompass’d and over-spread the Face of
the Waters? To be _founded_ upon the Waters, to be _establish’d_ upon
the Waters, to be _extended_ upon the Waters, what rational or
satisfactory Account can be given of these Phrases and Expressions from
any thing we find in the present Situation of the Earth? Or how can they
be verified concerning it? Consult Interpreters, antient or modern, upon
these two Places; see if they answer your Expectation, or answer the
natural Importance of the Words, unless they acknowledge another Form of
the Earth, than the present. Because a Rock hangs its Nose over the Sea,
must the Body of the Earth be said to be _stretched over the Waters_?
Or, because there are Waters in some subterraneous Cavities, is the
Earth therefore _founded upon the Seas_? Yet such lame Explications as
these you will meet with; and while we have no better Light, we must
content our selves with them; but when an Explication is offer’d, that
answers the Propriety, Force and Extent of the Words, to reject it, only
because it is not fitted to our former Opinions, or because we did not
first think of it, is to take an ill Method in expounding Scripture.
This _Foundation_ or _Establishment_ of the Earth upon the Seas, this
_Extention_ of it above the Waters, relates plainly to the Body, or
whole Circuit of the Earth, not to Parcels and Particles of it; as
appears from the Occasion, and its being join’d with the Heavens, the
other Part of the World. Besides, _David_ is speaking of the Origin of
the World, and of the divine Power and Wisdom in the Constitution and
Situation of our Earth; and these Attributes do not appear from the
Holes of the Earth, and broken Rocks, which have rather the Face of a
Ruin, than of Wisdom; but in that wonderful Libration and Expansion of
the first Earth over the Face of the Waters, sustained by its own
Proportions, and the Hand of his Providence.

These two Places in the _Psalms_ being duly consider’d, we shall more
easily understand a third Place, to the same effect, in the _Proverbs_;
delivered by _WISDOM_, concerning the Origin of the World, and the Form
of the first Earth, in these Words, _Chapter_ viii. 27. _When he
prepared the Heavens I was there, when HE SET an Orb or Sphere upon the
Face of the Abyss._ We render it, when we set a Compass upon the Face of
the Abyss; but if we have rightly interpreted the Prophet _David_, ’tis
plain enough what Compass is here to be understood; not an imaginary
Circle, (for why should that be thought one of the wonderful Works of
God?) but that exterior Orb of the Earth that was set upon the Waters:
That was the Master-piece of the divine Art in framing of the first
Earth, and therefore very fit to be taken Notice of by _Wisdom_. And
upon this Occasion, I desire you to reflect upon St. _Peter_’s
Expression, concerning the first Earth, and to compare it with
_Solomon_’s, to see if they do not answer one another. St. _Peter_ calls
it, γῆ καθεστῶσα δὶ ὕδάτων, _an Earth consisting, standing_, or
_sustained by the Waters_. And _Solomon_ calls it חונ על בני תהום _An
Orb drawn upon the Face of the Abyss._ And St. _Peter_ says, that was
done τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ Θεοῦ, by the _Wisdom of God_; which is the same Λόγος
or _Wisdom_, that here declares her self to have been present at this
Work. Add now to these two Places, the two foremention’d out of the
_Psalmist_; _An Earth founded upon the Sea_, (Psal. xxiv. 2.) and an
_Earth stretched out above the Waters_; (_Psal._ cxxxvi. 6.) Can any
Body doubt or question; but all these four Texts refer to the same
Thing? And seeing St. _Peter_’s Description refers certainly to the
ante-diluvian Earth, they must all refer to it; and do all as certainly
and evidently agree with our Theory concerning the Form and Situation of
it.

The pendulous Form and Posture of that first Earth being prov’d from
these four Places, ’tis more easy and emphatical to interpret in this
Sense that Passage in _Job ch._ xxvi. 7. _He stretcheth out the North
over the Tohu_, (for so it is in the Original) _and hangeth the Earth
upon nothing._ And this strange Foundation or no Foundation of the
exterior Earth seems to be the Ground of those noble Questions propos’d
to _Job_ by God Almighty, _chap._ xxxviii. _Where wast thou, when I laid
the Foundations of the Earth? Declare if thou hast understanding,
whereupon are the Foundations thereof fastned, and who laid the
Corner-Stone?_ There was neither Foundation, nor Corner-Stone, in that
piece of Architecture; and that was it which made the Art and Wonder of
it. But I have spoken more largely to these Places in the Theory it
self, _Book_ i. _p._ 119. And if the four Texts before mention’d be
consider’d without Prejudice, I think there are few Matters of natural
Speculation that can be so well prov’d out of Scripture, as the Form
which we have given to the ante-diluvian Earth.

But yet it may be thought a just, if not a necessary Appendix to this
Discourse, concerning the Form of the ante-diluvian Earth, to give an
Account also of the _ante-diluvian Abyss_, and the Situation of it
according to Scripture; for the Relation which these two have to one
another, will be a farther Means to discover, if we have rightly
determined the Form of that Earth. The _Abyss_ or _Tehom Rabbah_ is a
Scripture Notion, and the Word is not us’d, that I know of, in that
distinct and peculiar Sense in Heathen Authors. ’Tis plain that in
Scripture it is not always taken for the Sea (as _Gen._ i. 2. and vii.
11. and xlix. 25. _Deut._ xxxiii. 13. _Job_ xxviii. 14. and xxxviii. 16.
_Psal._ xxxiii. 7. and lxxi. 20. and lxxviii. 15. and cxxxv. 6. _Apoc_.
xx. 1, 3.) but for some other Mass of Waters, or subterraneous
Store-house. And this being observ’d, we may easily discover the Nature,
and set down the History of the Scripture-Abyss.

The Mother-Abyss is no doubt that in the Beginning of _Genesis_, _v._ 2.
which had nothing but Darkness upon the Face of it, or a thick
caliginous Air. The next News we hear of this Abyss is at the Deluge,
(_Gen._ vii. 11.) where ’tis said to be broke open, and the Waters of it
to have drowned the World. It seems then, this Abyss was clos’d up some
Time betwixt the Creation and the Deluge, and had got another Cover than
that of Darkness. And if we will believe _Wisdom_, (_Prov._ viii. 27.)
who was there present at the Formation of the Earth, an _Orb was set
upon the Face of the Abyss_, at the Beginning of the World.

That these three Places refer to the same Abyss, I think, cannot be
questioned by any that will compare them and consider them. That of the
Deluge, _Moses_ calls there _Tehom-Rabbah_, the great _Abyss_; and can
there be any greater than the forementioned Mother-Abyss? And _WISDOM_,
in that Place in the _Proverbs_, useth the same Phrase and Words with
_Moses_, _Gen._ i. 2. על פני תהום _upon the Face of the Deep_, or of the
_Abyss_; changing _Darkness_ for that _Orb_ of the exterior Earth, which
was made afterwards to inclose it. And in this Sort it lay, and under
this Cover, when the _Psalmist_ speaks of it in these Words, _Psal._
xxxiii. 7. _He gathereth the Waters of the Sea, as in a[11] Bag; he
layeth up the Abyss in Store-houses._ Lastly, we may observe, that ’twas
this Mother-Abyss, whose Womb was burst at the Deluge, when the Sea was
born, and broke forth as if it had issued out of a Womb; as God
expresseth it to _Job_, _ch._ xxxviii. 8. in which Place the _Chaldee_
Paraphrase reads it, when it broke forth, _coming out of the Abyss_.
Which Disruption at the Deluge seems also to be alluded to _Job_ xii.
14, 15. and more plainly, _Prov._ iii. 20. _by his Knowledge the Abysses
are broken up_.

Thus you have already a three-fold State of the Abyss, which makes a
short History of it; first, _open_, at the Beginning; then _covered_
till the Deluge; then _broke open_ again, as it is at present. And we
pursue the History of it no farther; but we are told, _Apoc._ xx. 3.
That it shall be shut up again, and the great Dragon in it, for a
thousand Years. In the mean time we may observe from this Form and
Posture of the ante-diluvian Abyss, how suitable it is and coherent with
that Form of the ante-diluvian Earth which St. _Peter_ and the
_Psalmist_ had described, _sustained by the Waters_; _founded upon the
Waters_; _stretched above the Waters_; for if it was the Cover of this
Abyss (and it had some Cover that was broke at the Deluge) it was spread
as a Crust of Ice upon the Face of those Waters, and so made an _Orbis
Terrarum_, an habitable Sphere of Earth about the Abyss.

So much for the Form of the ante-diluvian Earth and Abyss; which as they
aptly correspond to one another, so, you see, our Theory answers, and is
adjusted to both; and, I think, so fitly, that we have no reason
hitherto to be displeased with the Success we have had in the
Examination of it, according to Scripture. We have dispatch’d the two
main Points in Question, first, to prove a Diversity in general betwixt
the two natural Worlds, or betwixt the Heavens and the Earth before and
after the Flood. Secondly, to prove wherein this Diversity consisted; or
that the particular Form of the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth was such
according to Scripture, as we have describ’d it in the Theory. You’ll
say, then the Work is done; what needs more, all the rest follows of
Course? For if the ante-diluvian Earth had such a Form as we have
propos’d and prov’d it to have had, there could be no Deluge in it but
by a Dissolution of its Parts and exterior Frame: And a Deluge so made,
would not be in the Nature of a Standing-Pool, but of a violent
Agitation and Commotion of the Waters. This is true; these Parts of the
Theory are so cemented, that you must grant all, if you grant any.
However we will try, if even these two Particulars also may be prov’d
out of Scripture; that is, if there be any Marks or Memorandums left
there by the Spirit of God, of such a Fraction or Dissolution of the
Earth at the Deluge; and also such Characters of the Deluge it self, as
shew it to have been by a Fluctuation and impetuous Commotion of the
Waters.

To proceed then; that there was a Fraction or Dissolution of the Earth
at the Deluge, the History of it by _Moses_ gives us the first Account,
seeing he tells us, as the principal Cause of the Flood, that the
Fountains of the _great Abyss_ were _cloven_ or _burst asunder_; and
upon this Disruption the Waters gush’d out from the Bowels of the Earth,
as from the widen’d Mouths of so many Fountains. I do not take
_Fountains_ there to signify any more than Sources or Stores of Water;
noting also this Manner of their Eruption from below, or out of the
Ground, as Fountains do. Accordingly in the _Proverbs_, (_chap._ iii.
20.) ’tis only said, the _Abysses were broken open_. I do not doubt, but
this refers to the Deluge, as _Bede_, and others understand it; the very
Word being us’d here, both in the _Hebrew_ and Septuagint, נבקעו
ἐῤῤάγησαν that express the Disruption of the Abyss at the Deluge.

And this breaking up of the Earth at that Time, is elegantly exprest in
_Job_, by the bursting of the Womb of Nature, when the Sea was first
brought to Light; _ch._ xxxviii. when after many Pangs and Throws and
Dilacerations of her Body, Nature was delivered of a Burthen, which she
had born in her Womb sixteen hundred Years.

These three Places I take to be Memorials and Proofs of the Disruption
of the Earth, or of the Abyss, at the universal Deluge. And to these we
may add more out of the Prophets, _Job_, and the _Psalms_, by Way of
Allusion commonly to the State of Nature at that Time. The Prophet
_Isaiah_, in describing the future Destruction of the World, _chap._
xxiv. 18, 19. seems plainly to allude and have respect to the past
Destruction of it at the Deluge; as appears by that leading Expression,
_the Windows from on high are open_, ארבות סמיום נפתחו θυρίδες ἐκ τῷ
οὐρανῶ ἠνεώχθησαν, taken manifestly from _Gen._ vii. 11. Then see how
the Description goes on; _the Windows from on high are open, and the
Foundations of the Earth do shake, the Earth is utterly broken down, the
Earth is quite dissolved, the Earth is exceedingly moved_. Here are
Concussions, and Fractions, and Dissolutions, as there were in the
mundane Earthquake and Deluge; which we had exprest before only by
_breaking open the Abyss_. By the Foundations of the Earth here and
elsewhere, I perceive many understand the Center; so by _moving_ or
_shaking_ the Foundations, or putting them out of Course, must be
understood a displacing of the Center; which was really done at the
deluge, as we have shewn in its proper Place, _Theor._ _Book_ ii.
_Chap._ 3. If we therefore remember, that there was both a Dislocation,
as I may so say, and a Fraction in the Body of the Earth, by that great
Fall; a Dislocation as to the Center, and a Fraction as to the Surface
and exterior Region, it will truly answer to all those Expressions in
the Prophet, that seem so strange and extraordinary. ’Tis true, this
Place of the Prophet respects also and foretels the future Destruction
of the World; but that being by Fire, when the _Elements shall melt with
fervent Heat, and the Earth with the Works therein shall be burnt up_,
these Expressions of _Fractions and Concussions_, seem to be taken
originally from the Manner of the World’s first distruction, and to be
transferr’d, by way of Application, to represent and signify the second
Destruction of it, though, it may be, not with the same Exactness and
Propriety.

There are several other Places that refer to the Dissolution and
Subversion of the Earth at the Deluge, _Amos_ ix. 5, 6. _The Lord of
Hosts is he, that toucheth the Earth, and it shall melt, or be
dissolv’d.——and it shall rise up wholly like a Flood, and shall be
drowned as by the Flood of Ægypt._ By _this_ and by _the next verse_ the
Prophet seems to allude to the Deluge, and to the Dissolution of the
Earth that was then. This in _Job_ seems to be called _breaking down the
Earth, and overturning the Earth_, chap. xii. 14, 15. _Behold he
breaketh down and it cannot be built again, He shutteth upon Man, and
there can be no opening. Behold, he with-holdeth the Waters, and they
dry up; also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the Earth:_ Which
Place you may see paraphras’d, _Theo._ _Book_ i. _p._ 124, 125. We have
already cited, and shall hereafter cite, other Places out of _Job_; and
as that ancient Author (who is thought to have liv’d before the
_Judaical_ Oeconomy, and nearer to _Noah_ than _Moses_) seems to have
had the _Præcepta Noachidarum_, so also he seems to have had the
_Dogmata Noachidarum_; which were deliver’d by _Noah_ to his Children
and Posterity, concerning the Mysteries of natural Providence, the
Origin and Fate of the World, the Deluge and ante-diluvian State, _&c._
and accordingly we find many Strictures of these Doctrines in the Book
of _Job_. Lastly, In the _Psalms_ there are Texts that mention the
_shaking of the Earth_, and the _Foundations_ of the World, in reference
to the Flood, if we judge aright; whereof we will speak under the next
Head, _concerning_ the raging of the Waters in the Deluge.

These Places of Scripture may be noted, as left us to be Remembrancers
of that general Ruin and Disruption of the Earth at the Time of the
Deluge. But I know it will be said of them, that they are not strict
Proofs, but Allusions only: Be it so; yet what is the Ground of those
Allusions? Something must be alluded, and something that hath past in
Nature, and that is recorded in Sacred History; and what is that, unless
it be the universal Deluge, and that Change and Disturbance that was
then in all Nature? If others say, that these and such like Places are
to be understood morally and allegorically, I do not envy them their
Interpretation; but when Nature and Reason will bear a literal Sense,
the Rule is, that we should not recede from the Letter. But I leave
these Things to every one’s Thoughts; which the more calm they are, and
the more impartial, the more easily they will feel the Impressions of
Truth: In the mean Time, I proceed to the last particular mention’d,
_The Form of the Deluge it self_.

This we suppose to have been, not in the Way of a standing Pool, the
Waters making an equal Surface, and an equal Height every where; but
that the extream Height of the Waters was made by the extream Agitation
of them; caus’d by the Weight and Force of great Masses or Regions of
Earth falling at once into the Abyss; by which Means, as the Waters in
some Places were press’d out, and thrown at an excessive Height into the
Air, so they would also in certain Places gape, and lay bare even the
Bottom of the Abyss; which would look as an open Grave ready to swallow
up the Earth, and all it bore. Whilst the Ark, in the mean time, falling
and rising by these Gulphs and Precipices, sometimes above Water, and
sometimes under, was a true Type of the State of the Church in this
World: And to this Time and State _David_ alludes in the Name of the
Church, _Psalm._ xlii. 7. _Abyss calls unto Abyss at the Noise of thy
Cataracts or Water-Spouts; all thy Water and Billows have gone over me._
And again, _Psal._ xlvi. 2, 3. in the Name of the Church, _Therefore
will not we fear tho’ the Earth be removed, and tho’ the Mountains be
carried into the midst of the Seas. The Waters thereof roar and are
troubled, the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof._

But there is no Description more remarkable or more eloquent, than of
that Scene of Things represented, _Psalm._ xviii. 7, 8, 9, _&c._ which
still alludes, in my Opinion, to the Deluge-Scene, and in the Name of
the Church. We will set down the Words at large.

    Ver. 6. _In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cryed unto my
    God; He heard my Voice out of his Temple, and my Cry came before him
    into his Ears._

    7. _Then the Earth shook and trembled, the Foundations also of the
    Hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth._

    8. _There went up a Smoak from his Nostrils, and Fire out of his
    Mouth devoured; Coals were kindled by it._

    9. _He bowed the Heavens also and came down, and Darkness was under
    his Feet._

    10. _And he rode upon a Cherub and did fly, he did fly upon the
    Wings of the Wind._

    11. _He made Darkness his secret Place; his Pavilion round about him
    was dark Waters and thick Clouds of the Sky._

    12. _At the Brightness before him the thick Clouds passed, Hail and
    Coals of Fire._

    13. _The Lord also thunder’d in the Heavens, and the Highest gave
    his Voice, Hail and Coals of Fire._

    14. _Yea, he sent out his Arrows, and scattered them; and he shot
    out Lightnings and discomfited them._

    15. _Then the Channels of Waters were seen, and the Foundations of
    the World were discovered; at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of
    the Breath of thy Nostrils._

    _He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of great Waters._
    מים רבים

This is a rough, I think, Draught of the Face of the Heavens and the
Earth at the Deluge, as the last Verses do intimate; and ’tis apply’d to
express the Dangers and Deliverances of the Church: The Expressions are
so far too high to be apply’d to _David_ in his Person, and to his
Deliverance from _Saul_; no such Agonies or Disorders of Nature as are
here instanc’d, were made in _David_’s Time, or upon his Account; but
’tis a Scheme of the Church, and of her Fate, particularly, as
represented by the Ark, in that dismal Distress, when all Nature was in
Confusion. And though there may be some Things here intermixt to make up
the Scene, that are not so close to the Subject as the rest, or that
they may be refer’d to the future Destruction of the World; yet that is
not unusual, nor amiss, in such Descriptions, if the great Strokes be
fit and rightly placed. That there was Smoak, and Fire, and Water, and
Thunder, and Darkness, and Winds, and Earthquakes, at the Deluge, we
cannot doubt, if we consider the Circumstances of it: Waters dash’d and
broken made a Smoak and Darkness, and no Hurricane could be so violent
as the Motions of the Air at that Time: Then the Earth was torn in
pieces, and its Foundations shaken. And as to Thunder and Lightning, the
Encounters and Collisions of the mighty Waves, and the Cracks of a
falling World, would make Flashes and Noises, far greater and more
terrible, than any that can come from Vapours and Clouds. There was an
universal[12] Tempest, a Conflict and Clashing of all the Elements; and
_David_ seems to have represented it so; with God Almighty in the midst
of it, ruling them all.

But I am apt to think, some will say, all this is Poetical in the
Prophet, and these are hyperbolical and figurative Expressions, from
which we cannot make any Inference, as to the Deluge and the natural
World: ’Tis true, those that have no Idea of the Deluge, that will
answer to such a Scene of things, as is here represented, must give such
a slight Account of this _Psalm_. But on the other hand, if we have
already an Idea of the Deluge, that is rational, and also consonant to
Scripture upon other Proofs, and the Description here made by the
Prophet answer to that Idea, whether then is it not more reasonable to
think, that it stands upon that Ground, than to think it a mere Fancy
and poetical Scene of Things? This is the true State of the Case, and
that which we must judge of. Methinks ’tis very harsh to suppose all
this a bare Fiction, grounded upon no matter of Fact, upon no sacred
Story, upon no Appearance of God in Nature. If you say it hath a moral
Signification, so let it have, we do not destroy that: It hath
reference, no doubt, to the Dangers and Deliverances of the Church; but
the Question is, whether the Words and natural Sense be a Fancy only, a
Bundle of random Hyperboles? or, whether they relate to the History of
the Deluge, and the State of the Ark there representing the Church? This
makes the Sense doubly rich, Historically and Morally; and grounds it
upon Scripture and Reason, as well as upon Fancy.

That violent Eruption of the Sea out of the Womb of the Earth, which
_Job_ speaks of, is, in my Judgment, another Description of the Deluge;
’tis _ch._ xxxviii. 8, 9, 10, 11. _Who shut up the Sea with Doors, when
it broke forth, as if it had issued out of a womb; when I made the Cloud
the Garment thereof, and thick Darkness a swadling Band for it. And
broke up for it my decreed Place.——Hitherto shalt thou come_, &c. Here
you may see the Birth and Nativity of the Sea, or of _Oceanus_,
describ’d[13], how he broke out of the Womb, and what his first Garment
and Swadling-Cloaths were; namely, Clouds and thick Darkness. This
cannot refer to any thing, that I know of, but to the Face of Nature at
the Deluge; when the Sea was born, and wrapt up in Clouds and broken
Waves, and a dark impenetrable Mist round the Body of the Earth. And
this seems to be the very same, that _David_ had express’d in his
Description of the Deluge, _Psal._ xviii. 11. _He made Darkness his
secret Place, his Pavilion round about him were dark Waters and thick
Clouds of the Skies._ For this was truly the Face of the World in the
Time of the Flood, tho’ we little reflect upon it. And this dark
Confusion every where, above and below, arose from the violent and
confus’d Motion of the Abyss; which was dash’d in pieces by the falling
Earth; and flew into the Air in misty Drops, as Dust flies up in a great
Ruin. [See _Theor._ _Book_ i. _p._ 136.]

But I am afraid, we have stay’d too long upon this Particular, _The Form
of the Deluge_; seeing ’tis but a Corollary from the precedent Article
about the Dissolution of the Earth. However, Time is not ill spent about
any thing that relates to natural Providence, whereof the two most
signal Instances in our sacred Writings, are, the _Deluge_ and the
_Conflagration_. And seeing _Job_ and _David_ do often reflect upon the
Works of God in the external Creation, and upon the Administrations of
Providence, it cannot be imagin’d, that they should never reflect upon
the Deluge; the most remarkable Change of Nature that ever hath been,
and the most remarkable Judgment upon Mankind. And if they have
reflected upon it any where, ’tis, I think, in those Places and those
Instances, which I have noted; and if those Places do relate to the
Deluge, they are not capable, in my Judgment, of any fairer or more
natural Interpretation, than that which we have given them; which you
see, how much it favours and confirms our Theory.

I have now finished the Heads I undertook to prove, that I might shew
our Theory to agree with Scripture in these three principal Points;
first, in that it supposeth a Diversity and Difference betwixt the
ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth, and the present Heavens and Earth:
Secondly, in assigning the particular Form of the ante-diluvian Earth
and Abyss; Thirdly, in explaining the Deluge by a Dissolution of that
Earth, and an Eruption of the Abyss. How far I have succeeded in this
Attempt, as to others, I cannot tell; but I am sure I have convinced my
self, and am satisfied that my Thoughts, in that Theory, have run in the
same Tract with the Holy Writings, with the true Intent and Spirit of
them. There are some Persons that are wilfully ignorant in certain
things, and others that are willing to be ignorant, as the Apostle
phraseth it; speaking of those Eternalists that denied the Doctrine of
the Change and Revolutions of the natural World: And ’tis not to be
expected but there are many still of the same Humour, and therefore may
be called _willingly ignorant_; that is, they will not use that Pains
and Attention that is necessary for the Examination of such a Doctrine,
nor Impartiality in judging after Examination; they greedily lay hold on
all Evidence on one side, and willingly forget, or slightly pass over,
all Evidence for the other. This, I think, is the Character of those
that are _willingly ignorant_; for I do not take it to be so deep as a
downright wilful Ignorance, where they are plainly conscious to
themselves of that Wilfulness: but where an insensible Mixture of human
Passions inclines them one Way, and makes them averse to the other; and
in that Method draws on all the Consequences of a willing _Ignorance_.

There remains still, as I remember, one Proposition that I am bound to
make good; I said, at first, that our Hypothesis concerning the Deluge
was more agreeable not only to Scripture in general, but also to the
particular History of the Flood left us by _Moses_; I say, more
agreeable to it than any other Hypothesis, that hath yet been propos’d.
This may be made good in a few Words; for in _Moses_’s History of the
Deluge, there are two principal Points, the Extent of the Deluge, and
the Causes of it; and in both these we do fully agree with that sacred
Author. _As to the Extent of it_, he makes the Deluge universal; _All
the high Hills under the whole Heaven were cover’d fifteen Cubits
upwards._ We also make it universal, over the Face of the whole Earth;
and in such a Manner as must needs raise the Waters above the Top of the
highest Hills every where. As _to the Causes of it_, _Moses_ makes them
to be the Disruption of the _Abyss_, and the _Rains_, and no more; and
in this also we exactly agree with him; we know no other Causes, nor
pretend to any other but those two. Distinguishing therefore _Moses_ his
Narration as to the Substance and Circumstances of it, it must be
allowed that these two Points make the Substance of it, and that an
Hypothesis that differs from it in either of these two, differs from it
more than ours; which, at the worst, can but differ in Matter of
Circumstance. Now seeing the great Difficulty about the Deluge is the
Quantity of Water required for it, there have been two Explications
proposed, besides ours, to remove or satisfy this Difficulty; one
whereof makes the Deluge not to have been universal, or to have reach’d
only _Judea_ and some neighbouring Countries, and therefore less Water
would suffice; the other owning the Deluge to be universal, supplies it
self with Water from the divine Omnipotency, and says _new_ Waters were
created then for the nonce, and again annihilated, when the Deluge was
to cease. Both these Explications, you see, (and I know no more of Note
that are not obnoxious to the same Exceptions) differ from _Moses_ in
the Substance, or in one of the two substantial Points, and consequently
more than ours doth. The first changeth the Flood into a kind of
National Inundation; and the second assigns other Causes of it than
_Moses_ had assign’d; And as they both differ apparently from the
_Mosaical_ History, so you may see them refuted upon other Grounds also,
in the third Chapter of the first Book of the _Theory_.

This may be sufficient as to the History of the Flood by _Moses_: But
possibly it may be said, the principal Objection will arise from _Moses_
his six Days Creation in the first Chapter of _Genesis_; where another
sort of Earth, than what we have form’d from the Chaos, is represented
to us; namely, a terraqueous Globe such as our Earth is at present. ’Tis
indeed very apparent, that _Moses_ hath accommodated his six Days
Creation to the present Form of the Earth, or to that which was before
the Eyes of the People, when he wrote. But it is a great Question
whether that was ever intended for a true Physical Account of the Origin
of the Earth; or whether _Moses_ did either Philosophize or Astronomize
in that Description. The antient fathers, when they answer the Heathens,
and the Adversaries of Christianity, do generally deny it; as I am ready
to make good upon another Occasion. And the Thing it self bears in it
evident Marks of an Accommodation and Condescension to the vulgar
Notions concerning the Form of the World: Those that think otherwise,
and would make it literally and physically true in all the Parts of it,
I desire them, without entring upon the strict Merits of the Cause, to
determine these Preliminaries. First, whether the whole Universe rise
from a terrestrial Chaos? Secondly, what System of a World this six Days
Creation proceeds upon; whether it supposes the Earth, or the Sun, for
the Center? Thirdly, whether the Sun and fix’d Stars are of a later
Date, and a later Birth, than this Globe of Earth? And lastly, where is
the Region of the Super-celestial Waters? When they have determin’d
these Fundamentals, we will proceed to other Observations upon the six
Days Work, which will farther assure us, that ’tis a Narration suited to
the Capacity of the People, and not to the strict and physical Nature of
Things. Besides, we are to remember, that _Moses_ must be so interpreted
in the first Chapter of _Genesis_, as not to interfere with himself in
other Parts of his History; nor to interfere with St. _Peter_, or the
Prophet _David_, or any other sacred Authors, when they treat of the
same Matter. Nor lastly, so, as to be repugnant to clear and uncontested
Science. For, in things that concern the natural World, that must always
be consulted.

With these Precautions, let them try if they can reduce that Narrative
of the Origin of the World, to physical Truth; so as to be consistent,
both with Nature, and with Divine Revelation every where. It is easily
reconcileable to both, if we suppose it wrote in a vulgar Style, and to
the Conceptions of the People; and we cannot deny that a vulgar Style is
often made use of in the holy Writings. How freely and unconcernedly
does Scripture speak of God Almighty, according to the Opinions of the
Vulgar? Of his _Passions_, _local Motions_, _Parts and Members of his
Body_: Which all are things that do not belong, or are not compatible
with the Divine Nature, according to Truth and Science. And if this
Liberty be taken, as to God himself, much more may it be taken as to his
Works. And accordingly we see, what Motion the Scripture gives to the
Sun; what Figure to the Earth; what Figure to the Heavens: All according
to the Appearance of Sense and popular Credulity without any Remorse for
having transgressed the Rules of intellectual Truth.

This vulgar Style of Scripture, in describing the Nature of Things, hath
been often mistaken for the real Sense, and so become a Stumbling-Block
in the Way of Truth. Thus the _Anthropomorphites_ of old contended for
the human Shape of God, from the Letter of Scripture, and brought many
express Texts for their purpose; but sound Reason, at length, got the
upper hand of literal Authority. Then several of the Christian Fathers
contended, that there were no _Antipodes_; and made that Doctrine
irreconcilable to Scripture; But this also, after a while, went off, and
yeilded to Reason and Experience. Then, the Motion of the Earth must by
no means be allow’d, as being contrary to Scripture; for so it is
indeed, according to the Letter and vulgar Style. But all intelligent
Persons see thorough this Argument, and depend upon it no more in this
Case, than in the former. Lastly, the Original of the Earth from a
Chaos, drawn according to the Rules of Phisiology, will not be admitted;
because it does not agree with the Scheme of the six Days Creation. But
why may not this be wrote in a vulgar Style, as well as the rest?
Certainly there can be nothing more like a vulgar Style, than to set God
to _work by the Day_, and in six Days to finish his Task; as he is there
represented. We may therefore probably hope that all these Disguises of
Truth will at length fall off, and that we shall see God and his Works
in a pure and naked Light.

Thus I have finished what I had to say in Confirmation of this Theory
from Scripture; I mean of the former Part of it, which depends chiefly
upon the Deluge, and the ante-diluvian Earth. When you have collated the
Places of Scripture, on either side, and laid them in the Balance, to be
weigh’d one against another; if you do but find them equal, or near to
an equal Poise, you know in whether Scale the natural Reasons are to be
laid; and of what Weight they ought to be in an Argument of this kind.
There is a great Difference betwixt Scripture with Philosophy on its
side, and Scripture with Philosophy against it, when the Question is
concerning the natural World: And this is our Case; which I now leave to
the Consideration of the unprejudic’d Reader, and proceed to the Proof
of the second Part of the Theory.

The latter Part consists of the _Conflagration of the World_, and the
_new Heavens_ and _new Earth_; and seeing there is no Dispute concerning
the former of these two, our Task will now lie in a little Compass;
being only this, to prove that there will be new Heavens, and a new
Earth, after the Conflagration. This, to my Mind, is sufficiently done
already, in the first, second and third Chapters of the ivth book, both
from Scripture and Antiquity, whether Sacred or Prophane; and therefore,
at present, we will only make a short and easy Review of
Scripture-Testimonies, with design chiefly to obviate and disappoint the
Evasions of such, as would beat down solid Texts into thin Metaphors and
Allegories.

The Testimonies of Scripture concerning the _Renovation of the World_,
are either express, or implicit: Those I call express, that mention the
new Heavens and new Earth; and those implicit, that signify the same
Thing, but not in express Terms. So when our Saviour speaks of a
_Palingenesia_, or Regeneration; (_Matt._ xix. 28, 29.) or St _Peter_,
of an _Apocatastasis_ or Restitution; (_Acts_ iii. 21.) these being
Words used by all Authors, Prophane or Ecclesiastical, for the
_Renovation_ of the World, ought, in reason, to be interpreted in the
same Sense in the Holy Writings. And in like Manner, when St. _Paul_
speaks of his _future Earth_, or an _habitable World to come_, Hebr. ii.
5. ἡ οἰκουμένη ἡ μέλλουσα or of a _Redemption_ or Melioration of the
present State of Nature, _Rom._ iii. 21, 22. these lead us again, in
other Terms, to the same _Renovation_ of the World. But there are also
some Places of Scripture, that set the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_ in
such a full and open View, that we must shut our Eyes not to see them.
St. _John_ says, he saw them, and observed the Form of the new Earth,
_Apoc._ xxi. 1. _Isa._ lxv. 17. The Seer _Isaiah_ spoke of them in
express Words, many hundred Years before. And St. _Peter_ marks the Time
when they are to be introduc’d, namely, after the Conflagration, or
after the Dissolution of the present Heavens and Earth, 2 _Pet._ iii.
12, 13.

These later Texts of Scripture being so express, there is but one Way
left to elude the Force of them; and that is, by turning the _Renovation
of the World_ into an Allegory; and making the new Heavens and new Earth
to be allegorical Heavens and Earth, not real and material, as ours are.
This is a bold Attempt of some modern Authors, who chuse rather to
strain the Word of God, than their own Notions. There are Allegories, no
doubt, in Scripture, but we are not to allegorize Scripture without some
Warrant; either from an Apostolical Interpretation, or from the
Necessity of the Matter; and I do not know how they can pretend to
either of these, in this Case. However, that they may have all fair
Play, we will lay aside, at present, all the other Texts of Scripture,
and confine our selves wholly to St. _Peter_’s Words; to see and examine
whether they are, or can be turn’d into an Allegory, according to the
best Rules of Interpretation.

St. _Peter_’s Words are these, 2 _Pet._ iii. 11, 12, 13. _Seeing then
all these Things shall be dissolved, what manner of Persons ought ye to
be in all holy Conversation and Godliness? Looking for, and hasting the
Coming of the Day of God; wherein 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 Righteousness shall dwell._ The Question is concerning this last
Verse, _Whether the new Heavens and Earth_ here promis’d, are to be real
and material Heavens and Earth, or only figurative and allegorical. The
Words, you see, are clear; and the general Rule of Interpretation is
this, _That_ we are not to recede from the Letter, or the literal Sense,
unless there be a Necessity from the Subject-matter; such a Necessity,
as makes a literal Interpretation absurd. But where is that Necessity in
this Case? Cannot God make new Heavens and a new Earth, as easily as he
made the old ones? Is his Strength decayed since that Time, or is Matter
grown more disobedient? Nay, does not Nature offer her self voluntarily
to raise a new World from the second Chaos, as well as from the first;
and, under the Conduct of Providence, to make it as convenient an
Habitation as the primæval Earth? Therefore no Necessity can be
pretended of leaving the litteral Sense, upon an Incapacity of the
Subject-matter.

The second Rule to determine an Interpretation to be literal or
allegorical, is the use of the same Words or Phrase in the Context, and
the Signification of them there: Let’s then examine our Case according
to this Rule. St. _Peter_ had us’d the same Phrase of _Heavens and
Earth_ twice before in the same Chapter. The _old Heavens and Earth_,
_ver._ 5. The _present Heavens and Earth_, _ver._ 7. and now he uses it
again, _ver._ 13. the _new Heavens and Earth._ Have we not then Reason
to suppose, that he takes it here in the same Sense, that he had done
twice before, for real and material Heavens and Earth? There is no Mark
set of a new Signification, nor why we should alter the Sense of the
Words. That he used them always before for the material Heavens and
Earth, I think none will question; and therefore, unless they can give
us a sufficient Reason, why we should change the Signification of the
Words, we are bound by this second Rule also, to understand them in a
litteral Sense.

Lastly, The very Form of the Words, and the Manner of their Dependence
upon the Context, leads us to a litteral Sense, and to material Heavens
and Earth. _Nevertheless_, says the Apostle, _we expect new Heavens,
&c._ Why _Nevertheless!_ that is, notwithstanding the Dissolution of the
present Heavens and Earth. The Apostle foresaw, what he had said might
raise a Doubt in their Minds, whether all Things would not be at an End;
nothing more of Heavens and Earth, or of any habitable World, after the
Conflagration: And to obviate this, he tells them, _Notwithstanding_
that wonderful Desolation that I have describ’d, we do, accordding to
God’s Promises, expect new Heavens and a new Earth, to be an Habitation
for the Righteous.

You see then the new Heavens and new Earth, which the Apostle speaks of,
are substituted in the Place of those that were destroyed at the
Conflagration; and would you substitute allegorical Heavens and Earth in
the Place of Material? Shadow for a Substance? What an Equivocation
would it be in the Apostle, when the Doubt was about the material
Heavens and Earth, to make an Answer about allegorical. Lastly, The
timing of the Thing determines the Sense: When shall this new World
appear? after the Conflagration, the Apostle says: Therefore it cannot
be understood of any moral Renovation, to be made at, or in the Times of
the Gospel, as these Allegorists pretend. We must therefore, upon all
Accounts, conclude that the Apostle intended a literal Sense; real and
material Heavens, to succeed these after the Conflagration; which was
the Thing to be prov’d. And I know not what Bars the Spirit of God can
set, to keep us within the Compass of a literal Sense, if these be not
sufficient.

Thus much for the Explication of St. _Peter_’s Doctrine concerning the
new Heavens and new Earth; which secures the second Part of our Theory:
For the Theory stands upon two Pillars, or two Pedestals, the
ante-diluvian Earth and the future Earth; or in St. _Peter_’s Phrase,
the old Heavens and Earth, and the new Heavens and Earth; and it cannot
be shaken, so long as these two continue firm and immoveable. We might
now put an End to this Review, but it may be expected possibly that we
should say something concerning the _Millennium_? which we have,
contrary to the general Sentiment of the modern _Millennaries_, plac’d
in the _future_ Earth. Our Opinion hath this Advantage above others,
that all fanatical Pretensions to Power and Empire in this World, are,
by these Means, blown away, as Chaff before the Wind. Princes need not
fear to be dethroned, to make way to the Saints; nor Governments
unhinged, that they may rule the World with a Rod of Iron. These are the
Effects of the wild Enthusiasm; seeing the very State which they aim at,
is not to be upon this Earth.

But that our Sense may not be mistaken or misapprehended in this
Particular, as if we thought the Christian Church would never, upon this
Earth, be in a better and happier Posture than it is in at present: We
must distinguish betwixt a _Melioration_ of the World, if you will allow
that Word; and a _Millennium_. We do not deny a Reformation and
Improvement of the Church, both as to Peace, Purity, and Piety: That
Knowledge may increase, Mens Minds be enlarged, and Christian Religion
better understood: That the Power of Antichrist shall be diminish’d,
Persecution cease, Liberty of Conscience allow’d amongst the Reformed;
and a greater Union and Harmony established: That Princes will mind the
publick Good, more than they do now; and be themselves better Examples
of Virtue and true Piety. All this may be, and I hope will be e’er long.
But the _apocalyptical Millennium_, or the _new Jerusalem_, is still
another Matter: It differs not in Degree only from the present State,
but in a new Order of Things; both in the moral World and in the
natural; and that cannot be till we come into the _new Heavens_ and _new
Earth_. Suppose what Reformation you can in this World, there will still
remain many Things inconsistent with the true millennial State;
Antichrist, tho’ weakned, will not be finally destroyed till the coming
of our Saviour, nor Satan bound. And there will be always Poverty, Wars,
Diseases, Knaves and Hypocrites, in this World, which are not consistent
with the _new Jerusalem_, as St. _John_ describes it, _Apoc._ xxi. 2, 3,
4, _&c._

You see now what our Notion is of the Millennium, as we deny this Earth
to be the Seat of it: ’Tis the State that succeeds the first
Resurrection, when Satan is lock’d up in the bottomless Pit: The State
when the Martyrs are to return into Life, and wherein they are to have
the first Lot and chief Share: A State which is to last a thousand
Years. _And Blessed and Holy is he, that hath a Part in it; on such the
second Death hath no Power; but they shall be Priests of God and Christ,
and shall reign with him a thousand Years._ If you would see more
particular Reasons of our Judgment in this Case, why such a Millennium
is not to be expected in this World; they are set down in the _8th_
Chap. of the _4th_ Book, and we do not think it necessary that they
should be here repeated.

As to that Dissertion that follows the Millennium, and reaches to the
Consummation of all Things seeing it is but problematical, we leave it
to stand or fall by the Evidence already given; and should be very glad
to see the Conjectures of others more learned, in Speculations so
abstruse and remote from common Knowledge. They cannot surely be thought
unworthy or unfit for our Meditations, seeing they are suggested to us
by Scripture it self: And to what end were they propos’d to us there, if
it was not intended, that they should be understood, sooner or later?

I have done with this Review; and shall only add one or two Reflections
upon the whole Discourse, and so conclude. You have seen the State of
the Theory of the Earth, as to the _Matters_, _Form_, and _Proofs_ of
it, both natural and sacred: If any one will substitute a better in its
Place, I shall think my self more obliged to him, than if he had shewed
me the Quadrature of the Circle. But it is not enough to pick Quarrels
here and there; that may be done by any Writing, especially when it is
of so great Extent and Comprehension: They must build up, as well as
pull down; and give us another Theory instead of this, fitted to the
same natural History of the Earth, according as it is set down in
Scripture; and then let the World take their Choice. He that cuts down a
Tree, is bound in Reason to plant two; because there is an Hazard in
their Growth and Thriving.

Then as to those that are such rigorous Scripturists, as to require
plainly demonstrative and irresistible Texts for every thing they
entertain or believe; they would do well to reflect and consider,
whether, for every Article in the three Creeds (which have no Support
from natural Reason) they can bring such Texts of Scripture as they
require of others; or a fairer and juster Evidence, all things
consider’d, than we have done for the Substance of this Theory. We have
not indeed said all that might be said, as to Antiquity; that making no
part in this Review, and being capable still of great Additions. But as
to Scripture and Reason I have no more to add: Those that are not
satisfied with the Proofs already produc’d upon these two Heads, are
under a Fate, good or bad, which is not in my Power to overcome.
_FINIS._

Footnote 6:

  There was a Sect amongst the _Jews_ that held this Perpetuity and
  Immutability of Nature; and _Maimonides_ himself was of this
  Principle, and gives the same Reason for it with the Scoffers here in
  the Text, _Quod mundus retinet & sequitur Consuetudinem suam._ And as
  to those of the _Jews_ that were _Aristoteleans_, it was very suitable
  to their principles to hold the Incorruptibility of the World, as
  their Master did. _Vid. Med. in loc._

Footnote 7:

  δὶ ῀ὠν, _per que_. Vulgat. _Quamobrem_, Beza. _Quâ de causâ_, Grot.
  _Nemo interpretum reddidit_ δὶ ῀ὠν, per quas; _subintelligendo_ aquas.
  _Hoc enim argumentationem Apostolicana tolleret, supponeretque
  illusores illos ignorâsse quod olim fuerit Diluvium; Quod supponi non
  posse supra ostendimus._

Footnote 8:

  This Phrase or manner of Speech συνισάναι ἐκ vel ἐξ is not usual in
  _Greek_ Authors; and upon a like Subject, _Plato_ saith, τὸν δὲ κόσμον
  συνισάναι ἐκ πυρὸς ὕδατος, ἀέρος, γῆς, but he that should translate
  _Plato_, _the World stands out of Fire, Water_, _&c._ would be thought
  neither _Grecian_, nor Philosopher. The same Phrase is us’d in
  reciting _Heraclitus_ his Opinion, τὰ πάντα ἐκ πυρὸς συνεσάναι, καὶ
  εἰς τοῦτο ἀναλιέως. And also in _Thales_ his which is still nearer to
  the Subject, ἐκ τοῦ ὑδατός, φηοι, συνιζάναι πάντα, which _Cicero_
  renders, _ex aquâ, dixit, constare omnia_. So that it is easy to know
  the true Importance of this Phrase, and how it is ill render’d in the
  English, _standing out of the Water_.

Footnote 9:

  Whether you refer the Words ἐξ ὕδατ. καὶ δὶ ὕδατ separately to the
  Heavens and the Earth, or both to the Earth, or both to both, it will
  make no great Difference as to our Interpretation.

Footnote 10:

  I know some would make this Place of no effect by rendering the
  _Hebrew_ Particle על _juxta, by_ or _near_ to; so they would read it
  thus, _he had founded the Earth by the Sea-side_, and establish’d it
  by the Floods. What is there wonderful in this, that the Shores should
  lie by the Sea-side? Where could they lie else? What Reason or
  Argument is this, why the Earth should be the Lord’s? The Earth is the
  Lord’s, _for_ he hath founded it _near_ the Seas. Where is the
  Consequence of this? But if he founded it upon the Seas, which could
  not be done by any other Hand but his, it shews both the Workman and
  the Master. And accordingly in that other, _Psal._ cxxxvi. 6, if you
  render it, He _stretched_ out the Earth _near_ the Waters, How is that
  one of God’s great Wonders, as it is there represented to be? Because
  in some few Places this Particle is rendered otherwise, where the
  Sense will bear it, must we therefore render it so when we please, and
  where the Sense will not bear it? This being the most usual
  Signification of it, and there being no other Word that signifies
  _above_ more frequently or determinately than this does, why must it
  signify otherwise in this Place? Men will wriggle any way to get from
  under the Force of a Text, that does not suit to their own Notions.

Footnote 11:

  This reading or translating is generally followed, (_Theor. Book_ i.
  _p._ 86.) though the _English_ Translation read _on a heap_,
  unsuitably to the Matter and to the Sense.

Footnote 12:

  See _Philo Judæus_ his Description of the Deluge, both as to the
  Commotions of the Heavens, and the Fractions of the Earth. In his
  first Treatise _de Abrahamo_, _mih_, _p._ 279.

Footnote 13:

  _Uti comparatio præcedens_, ver. 4, 5, 6. _de ortu Telluris, sumitur
  ab ædificio, ita hæc altera de orsu maris, sumitur à partu; &
  exhibetur Oceanus, primùm, ut fœtus inclusus in utero, dein ut
  erumpens & prodeuns, denique ut fasciis & primus suis panniis
  involvutus. Atque ex aperto Terræ utero prorupit aquarum moles, ut
  proluties illæ, quam simul cum fœtu profundere solet puerpera_.




       AN ANSWER TO THE EXCEPTIONS MADE BY _Mr._ ERASMUS WARREN,
                Against the SACRED THEORY OF THE EARTH.

                          THE FOURTH EDITION.

                               _LONDON_:

            Printed for J. HOOKE, at the _Flower de Luce_ in
                        _Fleetstreet_, MDCCXXVI.




 AN ANSWER TO THE EXCEPTIONS MADE BY _Mr._ ERASMUS WARREN, AGAINST THE
                        _THEORY_ of the _EARTH_.


If it be Civility to return a speedy Answer to a Demand or Message, I
will not fail to pay that Respect to the late Author of the _Exceptions
against the Theory of the Earth_. I know, short Follies, and short
Quarrels, are the best: And to offer Satisfaction at the first
Opportunity, is the fairest Way to put an End to Controversies. Besides,
such personal Altercations as these, are but _Res perituræ_, which do
not deserve much Time or Study; but, like Repartees, are best made off
hand, and never thought on more. I only desire that Friendliness, that
some Allowance may be made as to Unaccuracy of Style: Which is always
allow’d in hasty Dispatches.

I shall make no Excursions from the Subject, nor use any other Method
than to follow the learned _Exceptor_ from Chapter to Chapter, and
observe his Steps and Motions, so far as they are contrary to the
Theory. But if he divert out of his Way, for his Pleasure, or other
Reasons best known to himself, I may take notice of it perhaps, but
shall not follow him any farther than my Business leads me; having no
design to abridge his Liberty, but to defend my own Writings where they
are attack’d. Give me leave therefore, without any other Preface or
Ceremony, to fall to our Work.


                                CHAP. I.


This Chapter is only an Introduction, and treats of other Things,
without any particular Opposition to the Theory. And therefore I shall
only give you the Conclusion of it, in the Author’s own Words: _So much
for the first Chapter; which may be reckoned as an Introduction to the
following Discourse. Which if any shall look upon as a Collection of
Notes, somewhat confusedly put together, rather than a formal, well
digested Treatise, they will entertain the best or truest Idea of it._ A
severe Censure: But every Man best understands his own Works.


                               CHAP. II.


Here he begins to enter upon particular Exceptions: And his first Head
is against the _Formation of the Earth_, _pag._ 45. as explained by the
Theory. To this he gives but one Exception in this Chapter: Namely, That
_it would have taken up too much Time; the World being made in six
Days_. Whereas many Separations of the Chaos, and of the Elements, were
to be made, according to the Theory, which could not be dispatch’d in so
short a Time. To this Exception, the general Answer may be this; either
you take the Hypothesis of an ordinary Providence, or of an
extraordinary, as to the Time allowed for the Formation of the Earth: If
you proceed according to an ordinary Providence, the Formation of the
Earth would require much more Time than six Days: But if according to an
extraordinary, you may suppose it made in six Minutes, if you please.
’Twas plain Work, and a simple Process, according to the Theory;
consisting only of such and such Separations, and a Concretion: And
either of these might be accelerated, and dispatch’d in a longer or
shorter Time, as Providence thought fit.

However, this Objection does not come well from the Hands of this
Author, who makes all the Mountains of the Earth (the most operose Part
of it, as one would think) to be rais’d in a small Parcel of a Day by
the Heat and Action of the Sun; as we shall find in the tenth Chapter,
hereafter. He seems to proceed by natural Causes; for such are the Heat
and Action of the Sun: And if so, he will find himself as much
straiten’d for Time, as the Theorist can be. But if he say, the Work of
Nature and of the Sun was accelerated by an extra-ordinary Power, he
must allow us to say the same Thing of the Separations of the Chaos, and
the first Concretion of the Earth. For he cannot reasonably debar us
that Liberty which he takes himself, unless we have debarr’d and
excluded our selves. Now ’tis plain, the Theorist never excluded an
extraordinary Providence in the Formation and Construction of the Earth;
as appears, and is openly express’d in many Parts of the Theory, _Eng.
Theor. p._ 88. See, if you please, the Conclusion of the _fifth
Chapter_, which treats about the Formation of the Earth. The last
Paragraph is this: _Give me leave only, before we proceed any farther,
to annex here a short Advertisement, concerning the Causes of this
wonderful Structure of the first Earth: ’Tis true, we have propos’d the
natural Causes of it, and I do not know wherein our Explication is false
or defective; but in Things of this Kind we may easily be too credulous:
And this Structure is so marvellous, that it ought rather to be
consider’d as a particular Effect of the Divine Art, than as the Work of
Nature. The whole Globe of the Water vaulted over, and the exterior
Earth hanging above the Deep, sustain’d by nothing but its own Measures
and Manner of Construction: A Building without Foundation or
Corner-stone. This seems to be a Piece of Divine Geometry or
Architecture; and to this, I think, is to be referr’d that magnificent
Challenge which God Almighty made to_ Job; Where wast thou, when I laid
the Foundations of the Earth? Declare, _&c._ Moses _also, when be had
describ’d the Chaos, saith_, The Spirit of God mov’d upon, _or sat
brooding upon_, the Face of the Waters; _without all doubt, to produce
some Effects there_. _And St._ Peter, _when he speaks of the Form of the
Anti-deluvian Earth, how it stood, in reference to the Waters, adds_, By
the Word of God, _or by the Wisdom of God_, it was made so. _And this
same Wisdom of God, in the_ Proverbs, _as we observed before, takes
notice of this very Piece of Work in the Formation of the Earth_: When
he set an Orb over the Face of the Deep, I was there. _Wherefore to the
great Architect, who made the boundless Universe out of nothing, and
form’d the Earth out of a Chaos, let the Praise of the whole Work, and
particularly, of this Master-piece, for ever, with all Honour, be
given._ In like Manner, there is a larger Account of Providence, both
ordinary and extraordinary, as to the Revolutions of the natural World,
in the last Paragraph of the eighth Chapter; and like Reflections are
made in other Places, when Occasion is offer’d.

We have not, therefore, any where excluded the Influence and Benefit of
superior Causes, where the Case requires it: Especially, when ’tis only
to modify the Effect, as to Time and Dispatch. And in that Case, none
will have more need of it than himself; as we shall find in the
Examination of his tenth Chapter, about the Origin of Mountains.

The rest of this second Chapter is spent in three Excursions. One in
justifying the _Cartesian_ Way of forming Light and the Sun, as
agreeable to _Moses_. The second about the _Jewish Cabala_, and
_Cabalistical Interpretations_. And the third about _mystical Numbers_.
But the Theory not being concern’d in these Things, I leave them to the
Author, and his Readers, to enjoy the Pleasure and Profit of them. And
proceed to the third Chapter.


                               CHAP. III.


In this Chapter a second Exception against the Formation of the Earth,
as propos’d in the Theory, is alledg’d: And ’tis this; The Fluctuation
of the Chaos, or of that first watery Globe, would hinder, he says, any
Concretion of Earth upon its Surface. Not that there were Winds or
Storms then, to agitate those Waters; neither would the Motion of the
Earth, or the Rotation of that Globe, disturb them, as he allows there;
but the Disturbance would have Rise from Tides, _p._ 74. _lin._ 18, 19.
or the Ebbings and Flowings of that great Ocean, which, he says, must
have been then, as well as now; And the Reason he gives, is this;
because the Flux and Reflux of the Sea depend upon the Moon; and the
Moon was then present, as he says, in our Heavens, or in our Vortex: And
therefore, would have the same Effect then, upon that Body of Waters
which lay under it, that it hath now upon the Sea.

That the Moon was in the Heavens, and in our Neighbourhood, when the
Earth was form’d, he proves from the six Days Creation: and spends two
or three Pages in Wit and Scolding upon this Subject, _p._ 77, 78, 79.
But, with his leave, when all is done, his Argument will be of no Force,
unless he can prove, that the _fourth Day’s Creation was before the
third_. I confess, I have heard of a Wager that was lost upon a like
Case, namely, Whether _Henry_ VIII. was before _Henry_ VII? But that was
done by Complot in the Company, to whom it was referr’d to decide the
Question. We have no Plot here, but appeal fairly to that Judge the
Exceptor hath chosen, namely, to Scripture, which tells us, that the
Moon was made the fourth Day, and the Earth was form’d the third.
Therefore, unless the fourth Day was before the third, the Moon could
not hinder the Formation of the Earth.

But I hope, say you, this is a Misrepresentation. The Animadverter sure
would not put the Matter upon this Issue. Yes, he does. For when he had
oppos’d to our Formation of the Earth, the Fluctuation of the Waters,
caus’d, as he phrases it, by the _bulky Presence_ of the Moon, he
concludes with these Words, (_p._ 77. _Parag._ 3.) _But in reference to
this Matter, there is a Doubt made by the Theorist, which must be
consider’d and removed; otherwise most of what hath been said, touching
the Instability and Fluctuation of these Waters, will be vain and
groundless: The Doubt is, Whether the Moon were then in our
Neighbourhood._ You see that Matter is put upon this Issue, Whether the
Moon was in the Neighbourhood of the Earth, at the Time of its
Formation. We say she was not; and prove it by this plain Argument, If
she was not in Being at that Time, she was not in our Neighbourhood: But
unless the _fourth_ Day was before the _third_, she was not in Being.
_Ergo._

But after all, if the Moon had been present then, and there had been
Tides, or any other Fluctuation towards the Poles, we have no Reason to
believe, according to the Experiences we have now, that that would have
hinder’d the Formation of the Earth, upon the Surface of the Chaos. For
why should they have hinder’d that more, than they do the Formation of
Ice upon the Surface of the Sea? We know, in cold Regions, the Seas are
frozen, notwithstanding their Tides; and in the Mouths of Rivers, where
there is both the Current and Stream of the River on one hand, and the
Counter-Current of the Tides on the other; these, together, cannot
hinder the Concretion that is made on the Surface of the Water: And our
Water is a Substance more thin, and easily broken, than that tenacious
Film was, that cover’d the Chaos. WHEREFORE, upon all Suppositions, we
have Reason to conclude, that no Fluctuations of the Chaos could hinder
the Formation of the first Earth.

Lastly, The Observator opposes the Reasons that are given by the
Theorist, _why the Presence of the Moon_ was less needful in the first
World. Namely, _because there were no long Winter Nights; nor the great
Pool of the Sea to move or govern_. As to the second Reason, ’tis only
hypothetical; and if the Hypothesis be true, _That_ there was no open
Sea at that Time, (which must be elsewhere examin’d,) the Consequence is
certainly true. But as to the first Reason, he will not allow the
Consequence, tho’ the Hypothesis be admitted. For he says, _p._ 79. _As
there were no long Winter Nights then, so there were no short Summer
ones neither: So that set but the one against the other, and the
Presence of the Moon may seem to have been as needful then, in regard of
the Length of Nights, as she is now._ This looks like a witty
Observation, but it does not reach the Point. Is there as much need of
the Moon in _Spain_, as in _Lapland_, or the Northern Countries? There
is as much Night in one Place as another, within the Compass of a Year,
but the great Inconvenience is, when the Night falls upon the Hours of
Travel, or the Hours of Work and Business; for if it fall only upon
Hours of Sleep, or of Rest and Retirement, as it does certainly more in
_Spain_, and in those Climates that approach nearer to an Equinox; the
Moon is there less necessary in that Respect: We can sleep without
Moonshine, or without Light, but we cannot travel, or do Business
abroad, without Hazard and great Inconvenience, if there be no Light. So
that the Reason of the Theorist holds good, _viz._ That there would be
more Necessity of Moon-shine in long Winter Nights, than in a perpetual
Equinox.

We proceed now to the rest of this Chapter, which is made up of some
secondary Charges against this Part of the Theory, concerning the Chaos
and the Formation of the first Earth. As, First, That it is, _p._ 80,
81. _Precarious:_ Secondly, _p._ 83. _Unphilosophical_: And, Thirdly,
_Antiscriptural_; which we shall answer in order. He seems to offer at
three or four Instances of _Precariousness_, as to the Ingredients of
the Chaos, their Proportions and Separations; but his Quarrel is chiefly
with the oily Particles: These he will scarce allow at all; nor that
they could separate themselves in due Time to receive the terrestrial,
at least in due Proportions.

First, He would have no oily Particles in the Chaos. But why so, I pray?
What Proof or just Exception is there against them? Why may not there be
original oily Particles, as well as original salt Particles? Such as
your great Master _Des Cartes_ supposes, _Prin. ph._ _l._ 4. §. 84.
_Meteor._ _c._ 1. §. 8. He who considers that vast Quantity of
oleaginous Matter that is dispers’d every where, in Vegetables, in
Animals, and in many sorts of Earths, and that this must have been from
the Beginning, or as soon as the Earth had any Furniture; will see
Reason to believe that such Particles must be thought original and
primeval; not forg’d below the Abyss, and extracted from the inferior
Regions of the Earth: For that would require a Process of many Ages;
whereas, these being the Principles of Fertility, it is reasonable to
suppose, that a new World abounds with them more than an old one.
Lastly, If we suppose oily Particles to be tenuious and branchy, as your
Philosopher does, too gross to be Air, and too light for Water; why
should we imagine that in that vast Mass and Variety of Particles,
whereof the Chaos consisted, there should not be any of this Figure, as
well as of others? Or, what Reason is there to suppose, that there are
none of that Figure, but what are brought from the inferior Regions of
the Earth? For, of all others, these seem to be the most unlikely, if
not incapable, of being extracted from thence. And if there be only a
gradual Difference, in Magnitude and Mobility, betwixt the Particles of
Air and Oil, as that Philosopher seems to suppose, _Prin. phil._ _l._ 4.
§. 76. why must we exclude these Degrees, and yet admit the higher and
lower?

The second Thing which he charges with _Precariousness_, is the
Separation of this oily Matter, in due time, so as to make a Mixture and
Concretion with the terrestrial Particles that fell from above. This
Objection was both made and answered by the Theorist; _Eng. Theor._ _p._
79. which the Observator might have vouchsaf’d to have taken notice of;
and either confuted the Answer, or spar’d himself the Pains of repeating
the Objection.

The third _Precariousness_ is, concerning the Quantity and Proportion of
these Particles: And the fourth, concerning the Quantity and Proportion
of the Water. The Exceptor, it seems, would have had the Theorist to
have gauged these Liquors, and told him the just Measure and Proportion
of each; but, in what Theory or Hypothesis is that done? Has his great
Philosopher, in his Hypothesis of _Three Elements_, (which the Exceptor
makes use of, _p._ 52.) or in his several Regions of the unform’d Earth,
the _Fourth Book of his Principles_, defin’d the Quantity and Dimensions
of each? Or in the mineral Particles and Juices, which he draws from the
lower Regions, does he determine the Quantity of them? And yet these, by
their Excess, or Defect, might be of great Inconvenience to the World:
Neither do I censure him for these Things, as _precarious_. For, when
the Nature of a Thing admits a Latitude, the original Quantity of it is
left to be determin’d by the Effects; and the Hypothesis stands good, if
neither any Thing antecedent, nor any present _Phænomena_, can be
alledged against it.

But if these Examples, from his great Philosopher be not sufficient, I
will give him one from an Author beyond all Exceptions; And that is from
himself. Does the Animadverter, in his new Hypothesis concerning the
Deluge, _Ch._ 15. give us the just Proportions of his Rock-Water, and
the just Proportions of his Rain-Water, that concurred to make the
Deluge? I find no Calculations there, but general Expressions, that the
one was far greater than the other; and that may be easily presumed,
concerning the oily Substance, and the watery Chaos: What Scruples
therefore, _p._ 80, 81. he raises, in reference to the Chaos, against
the Theorist, for not having demonstrated the Proportions of the Liquors
of the Abyss, fall upon his own Hypothesis; for the same or greater
Reasons. And you know what the old Verse says,

              _Turpe est Doctori, cum culpa redurguit ipsum._

But, however, he will have such Exceptions, _p._ 81. to stand good
against the Theorist, though they are not good against other Persons;
because the Theorist stands upon Terms[14] of Certainty, and in one
Place of his Book, has this Sentence, _Ego quidem_, &c. These Words, I
think, are very exceptionable, if they be taken with the Context: For
this Evidence and Certainty, which the Theorist speaks of, is brought in
there in Opposition to such uncertain Arguments, as are taken from the
Interpretation of _Fables_ and _Symbols_; or from _Etymologies_ and
_Grammatical Criticisms_, which are expresly mention’d in the preceding
Discourse: And yet this Sentence, because it might be taken in too great
an Extent, is left out in the second Edition of the Theory, and
therefore, none had Reason to insist upon it. But I see the Exceptor
puts himself into a State of War, and thinks there is no foul Play
against an Enemy.

So much for his Charge of _Precariousness_. We now come to the second,
which is call’d _Unphilosophicalness_. And, why is the Theorist, in this
Case, unphilosophical? Because, says the Exceptor, he supposes
terrestrial Particles to be dispers’d through the whole Sphere of the
Chaos, as high as the Moon: And why not, pray, if it be a mere Chaos?
Where, antecedently to Separations, all Things are mix’d and blended
without Distinction of Gravity or Levity; otherwise it is not a mere
Chaos: And when Separations begin to be made, and Distinction of Parts
and Regions, so far it is ceasing to be a mere Chaos. But then, says the
Observator, why did not the Moon come down, as well as these terrestrial
Particles? I answer by another Question, Why does not the Moon come down
now? Seeing she is still in our Vortex, and at the same Distance; and so
the same Reason which keeps her up now, kept her up then: Which Reason
he will not be at a loss to understand, if he understand the Principles
of his great Philosopher.

We come now to the last Charge: That the Theory, in this Part of it, is
_antiscriptural_. And why so? Because it supposes the Chaos _dark_,
whereas the Scripture says, there was Light the first Day. Well, but
does the Scripture say, that the Chaos was throughly illuminated the
first Day? The Exceptor, _p._ 52. as I remember, makes the primigenial
Light to have been the Rudiment of a Sun; and calls it there, _lin._ 17.
a _faint Light_, and a _feeble Light_; and in this Place, _lin._ 27. a
_faint Glimmering_. If then the Sun, in all its Strength and Glory,
cannot sometimes dispel a Mist out of the Air, what could this _faint,
feeble Glimmering_ do, towards the Dissipation of such a gross
caliginous Opacity, as that was? This Light might be sufficient to make
some Distinction of Day and Night in the Skies; and we do not find any
other Mark of its Strength in Scripture, nor any other Use made of it.

So we have done with this Chapter. Give me leave only, without Offence,
to observe the Style of the Exceptor, in reference to Scripture, and the
Theory. He is apt to call every Thing _antiscriptural_, that suits not
his Sense; neither is that enough, but he must also call it, _p._ 78. a
_bold Affront_ to Scripture. He confesses, he hath made, _p._ 299.
_pen._ a _little bold_ with Scripture himself, in his new Hypothesis;
how much that _little_ will prove, we shall see hereafter. But however,
as to that hard Word, _Affront_, a discreet Man, as he is not apt to
give an Affront, so neither is he forward to call every cross Word, an
Affront: Both those Humours are Extreams, and breed Quarrels. Suppose a
Man should say boldly, God Almighty _hath no Right Hand_. Oh, might the
Animadverter cry, _That’s a bold Affront to Scripture_: For I can shew
you many and plain Texts of Scripture, both in the _Old Testament_, and
in the _New Testament_, where express Mention is made of God’s _Right
Hand_. And will you offer to oppose _Reason_ and _Philosophy_ to express
Words of Scripture, often repeated, and in both Testaments? _O Tempora,
O Mores!_ So far as my Observation reaches, weak Reasons commonly
produce strong Passions. When a Man hath clear Reasons, they satisfy and
quiet the Mind; and he is not much concern’d, whether others receive his
Notions, or no: But when we have a strong Aversion to an Opinion, from
other Motives and Considerations, and find our Reasons doubtful or
insufficient; then, according to the Course of human Nature, the
Passions rise for a farther Assistance; and what is wanting, in point of
Argument, is made up by Invectives and Aggravations.

Footnote 14:

  _Eg: quidem i et sum sententis, so in barum resum de quibus agnt
  regnitienem, a alarum qunque, quo mements snt, sum s Des aut Natur ut
  pat estes perviniendi, ratio i ce est, aliq claris invi: Non
  eujecturatis, v, Quetras nimpe i, que opesmi sui, qui meimi sicavent
  ab, quam amcteren._


                               CHAP. IV.


This Chapter is chiefly concerning the _Central Fire_, and the _Origin_
of the _Chaos_; of both which, the Theorist had declared he would not
treat: And ’tis an unreasonable Violence to force an Author to treat of
what Things we please, and not allow him to prescribe Bounds to his own
Discourse. As to the first of these, see what the Theorist hath said,
_Engl. Theor._ _p._ 451, and 86, 67. By which Passages it is evident,
that he did not meddle with the central Parts of the Earth; nor thought
it necessary for his Hypothesis: As is also more fully express’d in the
_Latin Theory_, _p._ 45. For, do but allow him a Chaos from the Bottom
of the Abyss, upwards to the Moon, and he desires no more for the
Formation of an habitable Earth: Neither is it the Part of Wisdom, to
load a new Subject with unnecessary Curiosities.

Then as to the Origin of the Chaos, see how the Theorist bounds his
Discourse as to that, [15]_Engl. Theor._ _p._ 451. _I did not think it
necessary to carry the Story and Original of the Earth, higher than the
Chaos, as_ Zoroaster _and_ Orpheus _seem to have done; but taking that
for our Foundation which Antiquity, sacred and profane, does suppose,
and natural Reason approve and confirm, we have form’d the Earth from
it_. To form an habitable Earth from a Chaos given, and to shew all the
great Periods and general Changes of that Earth, throughout the whole
Course of its Duration, or while it remain’d an Earth, was the adequate
Design of the Theorist. And was this Design so short or shallow, that it
could not satisfy the great Soul of the Exceptor, _p._ 88. but it must
be a _Flaw_ in the Hypothesis, that it did go higher than the Chaos? We
content our selves with these Bounds at present. And when a Man
declares, that he will write only the _Roman_ History, will you say his
Work’s imperfect, because it does not take in the _Persian_ and
_Assyrian_?

These Things consider’d, to speak freely of this Chapter, it seems to
me, in a great Measure, impertinent; unless it was design’d to shew the
Learning of the Observator, who loves, I perceive, to dabble in
Philosophy, though little to the Purpose: For, as far as I see, his
Disquistions generally end in Scepticism; he disputes first one way,
then another; and, at last determines nothing. He rambles betwixt _Des
Cartes_ and _Moses_, the _Rabbies_, the _Septuagint_, the _Platonists_,
_Magnetisme_, _striate Particles_, and _Præ-existence of Souls_: And
ends in nothing, as to the Formation of the Earth, which was to be the
Subject of the Chapter. We proceed therefore to the next, in hopes to
meet with closer Reasoning.

Footnote 15:

  _Si admittamus insupor Ignam Centratem, sive Maisom ignir in centra
  Terra, quod quidem ain est basus argumenti. Neque partem intimam
  Chaos, niji ibiter & pro formo, conjiaeravi, cum ad um, nesram non
  spestet._ _Vid. etiam_ p. 186.


                                CHAP. V.


From the manner of the Earth’s Formation, the Exceptor, _p._ 106. now
proceeds to the _Form_ of it, if compleated. And his first Exception is,
That it would want _Waters_, or Rivers to water it. He says, there would
either be no Rivers at all, or none, at least, in due time.

The Theorist hath replenish’d that Earth with Rivers, flowing from the
extreme Parts of it, towards the middle, in continual Streams; and
watering, as a Garden, all the intermediate Climates. And this constant
Supply of Water was made from the Heavens, by an uninterrupted Stream of
Vapours, which had their Course through the Air, from the middle Parts
of the Earth towards the extreme; and falling in Rains, return’d again
upon the Surface of the Earth, from the extreme Parts to the middle: For
that Earth being of an oval or something oblong Figure, there would be a
Declivity all along, or Descent, from the Polar Parts towards the
Equinoctial; which gave Course and Motion to these Waters. And the
Vapours above never falling in their Course, the Rivers would never fail
below; but a perpetual Circulation would be establish’d, betwixt the
Waters of the Heavens and of the Earth.

This is a short Account of the State of the Waters in the primeval
Earth. Which you may see represented and explain’d more at large, in the
_second Book of the Theory_, _Chap._ 5. And this, I believe, is an Idea
more easily conceiv’d, than any we could form concerning the Waters and
Rivers of the present Earth, if we had not Experience of them. Suppose a
Stranger, that had never seen this terraqueous Globe, where we live at
present, but was told the general Form of it; how the Sea lies, how the
Land, and what was the Constitution of the Heavens: If this Stranger was
asked his Opinion, whether such an Earth was habitable; and
particularly, whether they could have Waters commodiously in such an
Earth, and how the inland Countries would be supplied? I am apt to
think, he would find it more difficult (upon an Idea only, without
Experience) to provide Waters for such an Earth, as ours is at present,
than for such an one as the primeval Earth was. ’Tis true, he would
easily find Rains, possible and natural, but with no Constancy or
Regularity; and these, he might imagine, would only make transient
Torrents, not any fix’d and permanent Rivers. But as for Fountains
deriv’d from the Sea, and breaking out in higher Grounds, I am apt to
believe, all his Philosophy would not be able to make a clear Discovery
of them: But Things that are familiar to us by Experience, we think easy
in Speculation, or never enquire into the Causes of them. Whereas, other
Things, that never fall under our Experience, though more simple and
intelligible in themselves, we reject often as Paradoxes or Romances.
Let this be applied to the present Case, and we proceed to answer the
Exceptions.

Let us take that Exception first, as most material, _p._ 114. that
pretends there would have been no Rivers at all in the primeval Earth,
if it was of such a Form as the Theorist had describ’d. And for this, he
gives one grand Reason, Because the Regions towards the Poles, where the
Rains are suppos’d to fall, and the Rivers to rise, would have been all
frozen and congeal’d; and consequently, no fit Sources of Water for the
rest of the Earth. Why we should think those Regions would be frozen,
and the Rains that fell in them, he gives two Reasons, the Distance, and
the Obliquity of the Sun. As also the Experience we have now, of the
Coldness and Frozenness of those Parts of the Earth. But as to the
Distance of the Sun, He confesses, _p._ 118. that is not the Thing _that
does only or chiefly_ make a Climate cold. He might have added,
_particularly in that Earth, where the Sun was never at a greater
Distance than the Equator_. Then, as to the Obliquity of the Sun,
neither was that so great, nor so considerable, in the first Earth, as
in the present. Because the Body of that lay in a direct Position to the
Sun; whereas the present Earth lies in an oblique. And though the Polar
Circles or Circumpolar Parts of that Earth, did not lie so perpendicular
to the Sun as the Equinoctial, and consequently were cooler, yet there
was no Danger of their being frozen or congeal’d. It was more the
Moisture and excessive Rains of those Parts that made them
uninhabitable, than the extreme Coldness of the Climate, of it self. And
if the Exceptor had well consider’d the Differences betwixt the present
and primitive Earth, as to Obliquity of Position, and that which follows
from it, the Length of Nights, he would have found no Reason to have
charg’d that Earth with _nipping and freezing Cold_; where there was
not, I believe, one Morsel of Ice, from one Pole to another: But that
will better appear, if we consider the Causes of Cold.

There are three general Causes of Cold: The Distance of the Sun, his
Obliquity, and his total Absence; I mean in the Nights. As to Distance,
that alone must be of little Effect, seeing there are many Planets
(which must not be look’d upon as mere Lumps of Ice) at a far greater
Distance from the Sun, than ours: And as to Obliquity, you see it was
much less considerable in the respective Parts of the Primitive Earth,
than of the present. Wherefore, these are to be consider’d but as
secondary Causes of Cold, in respect of the third, the total Absence of
the Sun in the Night Time: And where this happens to be long and
tedious, there you must expect Excess of Cold. Now, in the primitive
Earth there was no such Thing as long Winter Nights, but every where a
perpetual Equinox, or a perpetual Day. And consequently, there was no
Room or Cause of excessive Cold in any Part of it. But on the contrary,
the Case is very different in the present Earth; for in our Climate, we
have not the Presence of the Sun, in the Depth of Winter, half as long
as he is absent; and towards the Poles they have Nights that last
several Weeks or Months together: And then ’tis that the Cold rages,
binds up the Ground, freezes the Ocean, and makes those Parts more or
less uninhabitable. But where no such Causes are, you need not fear any
such Effects.

Thus much to shew that there might be Rains, Waters, and Rivers, in the
primigenial Earth, and towards the extreme Parts of it, without any
Danger of freezing. But however, says the other Part of the Exception,
_These Rivers would not be made in due Time._ That’s wholly according to
the Process you take; if you take a mere natural Process, the Rivers
could not flow throughout the Earth, all on a sudden; but you may
accelerate that Process, as much as you please, by a Divine Hand. As to
this Particular indeed of the Rivers, one would think there should be no
Occasion for their sudden flowing through the Earth, because Mankind
could not be suddenly propagated throughout the Earth: And if they did
but lead the Way, and prepare the Ground in every Country, before
Mankind arrived there, that seems to be all that would be necessary upon
their Account: Neither can it be imagined, but that the Rivers would
flow faster than Mankind could follow; for it is probable, in the first
hundred Years, Men did not reach an hundred Miles from Home, or from
their first Habitations: And we cannot suppose the Defluxion of Water,
upon any Declivity, to be half so slow. As to the Channels of these
Rivers, the Manner of their Progress, and other Circumstances, those
Things are set down fully enough in the fifth Chapter of the second
_Book_ of the _English Theory_, and it would be needless to repeat them
here.

But the Anti-Theorist says, this slow Production and Propagation of
Rivers is contrary to Scripture; both because of the Rivers of Paradise,
and also, because Fishes were made the sixth Day. As to that of the
Fishes, he must first prove that those were River-Fishes; for the
Scripture, _Gen._ i. 21. and 22. makes them Sea-Fish, and instances in
great Whales. But he says (_p._ 113, 114.) it will _appear in the Sequel
of his Discourse_, that the Abyss could be no Receptacle of Fishes. To
that Sequel of his Discourse therefore we must refer the Examination of
this Particular. Then as to Paradise, that was but one single Spot of
Ground, _ch._ xiii. according to the ordinary Hypothesis; which he seems
to adhere to: And Rivers might be there as soon as he pleases, seeing
its Seat is not yet determin’d. But as for the Lands which they are said
to traverse or encompass, that they might be the Work of Time, when
their Channels and Courses were extended and settled; as they would be,
doubtless, long before the Time that _Moses_ writ that Description: But
as to the _Rivers of Paradise_, it would be a long Story to handle that
Dispute here. And ’tis fit the Authors should first agree amongst
themselves, before we determine the Original of its River, or Rivers.


                               CHAP. VI.


We come now to the Deluge, where the great Exception is this, _p._ 121.
That according to the Theory, the Deluge would have come to pass,
whether Mankind had been degenerate, or no.

We know Mankind did degenerate, and ’tis a dangerous Thing to argue upon
false Suppositions; and to tell what would have come to pass, in case
such a Thing had not come to pass: Suppose _Adam_ had not sinn’d, what
would have become of the _Messiah_? _Eph._ i. 4. 1 _Pet._ i. 20. _Apoc._
xiii. 8. and the Dispensation of the Gospel, which yet is said to have
been determin’d more early than the Deluge? Let the Anti-Theorist answer
himself this Question, and he may answer his own.

But to take a gentler Instance, suppose _Adam_ had not eaten the
forbidden Fruit, how could he and all his Posterity have liv’d in
Paradise? A few Generations would have fill’d that Place; and should the
rest have been turn’d out into the wide World, without any sin or Fault
of theirs? You suppose the Ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth to have been
the same with the present, and, consequently, subject to the same
Accidents and Inconveniences. The Action of the Sun would have been the
same then as now, according to your Hypothesis: The same Excesses of
Heat and Cold, in the several Regions and Climates; the same Vapours and
Exhalations extracted out of the Earth; the same Impurities and
Corruptions in the Air: And in Consequence of these, the same external
Disposition to epidemical Distempers. Besides, there would be the same
Storms and Tempests at Sea, the same Earthquakes, and other Desolations
at Land. So that _had all the Sons and Daughters of Men_, to use the
Exceptor’s elegant Style, _p._ 122. _been as pure and bright as they
could possibly have dropt out of the Mint of Creation, they should
still_ have been subject to all these Inconveniences and Calamities. If
Mankind had continued spotless and undegenerate ’till the Deluge, or for
sixteen hundred Years, they might as well have continued so for sixteen
hundred more. And in a far less Time, according to their Fruitfulness
and Multiplication, the whole Face of the Earth would have been thick
covered with Inhabitants: Every Continent and every Island, every
Mountain and every Desert, and all the Climates from Pole to Pole. But
could naked Innocency have liv’d happy in the frozen Zones, where Bears
and Foxes can scarce subsist? in the midst of Snows and Ice, thick Fogs,
and more than _Ægyptian_ Darkness, for some Months together? Would all
this have been a _Paradise_, or a paradisaical State, to these virtuous
Creatures? I think it would be more advisable for the Exceptor, not to
enter into such Disputes, grounded only upon Suppositions. God’s
Prescience is infallible, as his Counsels are immutable.

But the Exceptor further suggests, _p._ 121. that the Theory does not
allow a judicial and extraordinary Providence in bringing on the Deluge,
as a Punishment upon Mankind. Which, I must needs say, is an untrue and
uncharitable Suggestion, as any one may see, both in the _Latin_ Theory
[16] _Chap._ 6. and in the _English_, in several Places. So at the
Entrance upon the Explication of the Deluge (_Theor._ _p._ 92.) are
these Words, _Let us then suppose, that at a Time appointed by Divine
Providence, and from Causes made ready to do that great Execution upon a
sinful World, that this Abyss was open’d, and the Frame of the Earth
broke,_ &c. And accordingly in the Conclusion of that Discourse about
the Deluge, are these Words, (Theor. p. 144.) _In the mean time I do not
know any more to be added in this Part, unless it be to conclude with an
Advertisement to prevent any Mistake or Misconstruction, as if this
Theory, by explaining the Deluge in a natural Way, or by natural Causes,
did detract from the Power of God, by which that GREAT JUDGMENT WAS
BROUGHT UPON THE WORLD, IN A PROVIDENTIAL AND MIRACULOUS MANNER._ And in
the three following Paragraphs (_Theor._ _p._ 144, 145, 146.) which
conclude that Chapter, there is a full Account given both of an ordinary
and extraordinary Providence, in reference to the Deluge, and other
great Revolutions of the natural World.

But it is a Weakness however to think, that, when a Train is laid in
Nature, and Methods concerted, for the execution of a Divine Judgment,
therefore it is not _providential_. God is the Author and Governor of
the natural World, as well as of the Moral: And he sees thorough the
Futuritions of both, and hath so dispos’d the one, as to serve him in
his just Judgments upon the other. Which Method, as it is more to the
Honour of his Wisdom, so it is in no way to the Prejudice of his Power
or Justice. And what the Exceptor suggests concerning Atheists, and
their presum’d Cavils at such an Explication of the Deluge, is a Thing
only said at random and without Grounds. On the contrary, so to
represent the Sense of Scripture, in natural Things, as to make it
unintelligible, and inconsistent with Science and Philosophick Truth, is
one great Cause, in my Opinion, that breeds and nourishes Atheism.

Footnote 16:

  _Notandum verò, quamvis mundi veteris dissolutionem & rationes Diluvii
  secundum ordinem causarum naturalium, explicemus, quòd eo modo magis
  clarè & distinctè intelligantur; non ideò in pœnam humani generis
  ordinatum suisse diluvium, singulisque ipsius motibus præfuisse
  providentiam, inficiamur: imò in eo elucet maximè Sapientia divina,
  quòd mundum naturalem morali ita coaptet & attemperet, ut hujus
  ingenio, illius ordo & dispositio semper respondeat: & amberum
  libratis momentis, simul concurrant & unà compleantur utriusque
  tempora & vicissitudines; ipse etiam Apostolus Petrus diluvii &
  excidii mundani causas naturales assignat, cùm ait_, δὶ ὧν, &c.


                               CHAP. VII.


This Chapter is about the Places of Scripture, alledg’d in Confirmation
of the Theory: And chiefly concerning that remarkable Discourse in St.
_Peter_, 2 _Epist._ iii. which treats of the Difference of the
Ante-diluvian World, and the present World. That Discourse is so fully
explain’d in the _Review of the Theory_, that I think it is plac’d
beyond all Exception. And the Animadverter here makes his Exception only
against the first Words, _ver._ 5. Λανσθάνει γὰρ αὐτοῦς τοῦτο θέλοντας,
which we thus render, _For this they willingly are ignorant of._ But he
generally renders it, _wilfully ignorant of_, and lays a great Stress
upon that word _wilfully_. But if he quarrel with the _English_
Translation, in this particular, he must also fault the _Vulgate_, and
_Beza_, and all others that I have yet met withal. And it had been very
proper for him, in this Case, to have given us some Instances or Proofs,
out of Scripture or _Greek_ Authors, where this Phrase signifies a
_wilful and obstinate Ignorance_. He says it must have been a wilful
Ignorance, otherwise it was not blameable: Whereas St. _Peter_ gives it
a sharp Reproof. I answer, There are many Kinds and Degrees of blameable
Ignorance; a contented Ignorance, an Ignorance from Prejudices, from
Non-attendance, and want of due Examination. These are all blameable in
some Degree, and all deserve some Reproof; but it was not their
Ignorance that St. _Peter_ chiefly reproves, but their deriding and
_scoffing_ at the Doctrine of the coming of our Saviour, and the
Conflagration of the World. And therefore he calls them, _Scoffers,
walking after their own Lusts_.

But the Exceptor seems at length inclinable to render the forementioned
Words thus, _p._ 137. _They are willingly mindless or forgetful._ And I
believe the Translation would be proper enough. And what gentler Reproof
can one give, than to say, you are _willing to forget_ such an Argument,
or such a Consideration; which implies little more than Non-attention,
or an Inclination of the Will towards the contrary Opinion? We cannot
tell what Evidence, or what Traditions they might have then concerning
the Deluge, but we know they had the History of it by _Moses_, and all
the Marks in Nature, that we have now, of such a Dissolution. And they,
that pretended to philosophize upon the Works of Nature, and the
Immutability of them, might very well deserve that modest Rebuke, that
they were _willing to forget_ the first Heavens and first Earth, and the
Destruction of them at the Deluge, when they talk’d of an immutable
State of Nature.

Neither is there any Thing in all this, contrary to what the Theorist
had said, _Theor._ _c._ 1. concerning the ancient Philosophers: That
none of them ever invented or demonstrated from the Causes, the true
State of the first Earth. This must be granted; but it is one Thing to
demonstrate from the Causes, or by way of Theory, and another Thing to
know at large: Whether by Scripture, Tradition, or Collection from
Effects. The Mutability and Changes of the World, which these
Pseudo-Christians would not allow of, was a knowable Thing, taking all
the Means which they might and ought to have attended to: At least,
before they should have proceeded so far as to reject the Christian
Doctrine concerning the future Changes of the World, with Scorn and
Derision. Which is the very Thing the Apostle so much censor’d them for.

So much for what is said by the Exceptor concerning this place of St.
_Peter_. To all the rest he gives an easy Answer, (in the Contents of
this Chapter) _viz._, That they are _figurative, and so not
argumentative_. The Places of Scripture upon which the Theory depends,
are fixed distinctly and in order, in the REVIEW: And, to avoid
Repetitions, we must sometimes refer to that, _Review_, p. 371, 372.
particularly, as to two remarkable Places, _Psal._ xxiv. 2. and _Psal._
cxxxvi. 6. concerning the _Foundation and Extension of the Earth upon
the Seas_. Which the Exceptor quickly dispatches by the Help of a
_Particle_ and a _Figure_. על.

The next he proceeds to, is, _Psal._ xxxiii. 7. _He gathereth the Waters
of the Sea, as in a Bag: He layeth up the Abyss in Store-Houses._ But,
he says, it should be render’d, as _on an Heap_: Which is the _English_
Translation. Whether the Authorities produced, in this case, by the
Theorist, _Eng. Theor._ p. 117. or by the Exceptor, are more
considerable, I leave the Reader to judge. But, however, he cites
another place, _Psal._ lxxviii. 13. where the same Word is us’d and
apply’d to the Red Sea, which could not be enclos’d as in a Bag. Take
whether Translation you please for this second place; it is no Prejudice
to the Theory, if you render it _on an Heap_: For it was a Thing done by
Miracle. But the other Place speaks of the ordinary Posture and
Constitution of the Waters, which is not _on an Heap_, but in a Level or
spherical Convexity with the rest of the Earth. This Reason the
Animadverter was not pleas’d to take notice of, tho’ it be intimated in
that same Place of the Theory which he quotes, _p._ 86. But that which I
might complain of most, is his unfair Citation of the next Paragraph of
the Theory, _Excep._ _p._ 140. which he applies peculiarly to this Text
of _Psal._ xxxiii. 7. whereas it belongs to all the Texts alledg’d out
of the _Psalms_, and is a modest Reflection upon the Explication of
them, as the Reader may plainly see, if he please to look the Theory,
and compare it with his Citation.

The next Place he attacks, is, _Job_ xxvi. 7. _He stretches the North
over the Tohu_, or, as we render it, _over the empty Places: And hangeth
the Earth upon nothing_. Here he says, _p._ 141. _Job_ did either
accommodate himself to the Vulgar, or else was a perfect _Platonist._
Methinks _Plato_ should rather be a _Jobist_, if you would have them to
imitate one another. Then he makes an Objection, and answers it himself:
concluding, however, that _Job_ could not but mean this of the present
Earth, because in the next Verse he mentions _Clouds_. But how does it
appear, that every Thing that _Job_ mentions in that Chapter, refers to
the same time?

The next Place, is, _Job_ xxxviii. 4, 5, 6. _Where wast thou when I laid
the Foundations of the Earth?_ &c. These eloquent Expostulations of the
Almighty, he applies all to the present Form of the Earth: Where he
says, there are the _Embossings of Mountains, the Enamelling of lesser
Seas, the open Work of the vast Ocean, and the fret Work of Rocks_, &c.
These make a great Noise, but they might all be apply’d to the Ruins of
an old Bridge, fallen into the Water. Then he makes a large Harangue in
Commendation of Mountains, and of the present Form of the Earth: Which,
if you please, you may compare with the tenth _Chapter_ of the _Latin
Theory_, and then make your Judgment upon both.

But it is not enough for the Exceptor to admire the Beauty of Mountains,
but he, _p._ 146. will make the Theorist to do so too, because he hath
exprest himself much pleas’d with the Sight of them. Can we be pleas’d
with nothing in an Object but the Beauty of it? Does not the Theorist
say there, in the very Words cited by the Exceptor, _Sæpe loci ipsius
insolentia & spectaculorum novitas delectat magis quam venustas in rebus
notis & communibus._ We are pleas’d in looking upon the Ruins of a
_Roman_ Amphitheatre, or a triumphal Arch, tho’ time have defac’d its
Beauty. A Man may be pleas’d in looking upon a Monster, will you
conclude therefore that he takes it for a Beauty? There are many Things
in Objects, besides Beauty, that may please; but he that hath not Sense
and Judgment enough to see the Difference of those Cases, and whence the
Pleasures arise, it would be very tedious to beat it into him by
Multitude of Words.

After his Commendation of Mountains, he falls upon the Commendation of
Rain: Making those Countries, that enjoy it, to be better water’d than
by Rivers; and consequently the present Earth better than that
paradisaical Earth describ’d by the Theorist. And in this he says, he
follows the Rule of Scripture, for these are his Words, p. 148, _And
that these Rules, whereby we measure the Usefulness of this Earth, and
shew it to be more excellent than that of the Theory, are the most true
and proper Rules, is manifest from God’s making use of the same, in a
Case not unlike: For he, comparing_ Ægypt _and_ Palestine, _prefers the
latter before the former; because in_ Ægypt _the Seed sown was_ watered
with the Foot, as a Garden of Herbs; _but Palestine was_ a Land of Hills
and Valleys, and drank Water of the Rain of Heaven, _Deut._ xi. 10, 11.

Let this rest a while: In the mean time let us take notice how unluckily
it falls out for the Observator, that a Country that had no Rain, should
be compared in Scripture, or join’d in Privilege, with Paradise it self,
and the Garden of God. For so is this very _Ægypt_, _Gen._ xiii. 10,
tho’ it had no Rain, but was water’d by Rivers. The Words of Scripture
are these. _And Lot lifted up his Eyes, and beheld all the Plain of
Jordan, that it was well-watered every where (before the Lord destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrah) even as the Garden of the Lord, like the Land of
Ægypt._ The Plain of _Jordan_ you see is commended for its Fruitfulness,
and being well watered: And as the height of its Commendation, it is
compar’d with _Ægypt_, and with the _Paradise of God_. Now in _Ægypt_ we
know there was little or no Rain: And we read of none in Paradise: But
they were both water’d by Rivers. Therefore the greatest Commendation of
a Land, for Pleasure and Fertility, according to Scripture, is its being
well water’d with Rivers: Which makes it like a Paradise. Surely then
you cannot blame the Theorist, having this Authority besides all other
Reasons, for making the _paradisaical Earth_ to have been thus water’d.

Now let the Exceptor consider how he will interpret and apply his place
in _Deuteronomy_, and make it consistent with this _Genesis_. Till I see
a better Interpretation, I like this very well, tho’ quite contrary to
his: Namely, _That_ they were not to expect such a Land as _Ægypt_, that
was a Plain naturally fruitful, as being well water’d; but the Land they
were to possess, depended upon the Benediction of Heaven: And therefore
they might expect more or less Fertility, according as they kept God’s
Commandments. And so much for those two Texts of Scripture.

Lastly, The Exceptor, _p._ 149. in the Conclusion of his Discourse about
that place in _Job_, makes a Reflection upon the Impropriety of those
Expressions made in _Job_, about _Foundations_ and _Corner-stones_, if
they be apply’d to the first Earth describ’d by the Theorist. But this
seems to me an Elegancy in that Discourse, which he makes a Fault:
Whether it be understood as an Allusion only to our manner of Building,
by deep Foundations, and strong Corner-stones: Or an ironical
Interrogation, as it seems to me; implying, that there was no Foundation
(strictly so call’d) nor Corner-stone, in that great Work, tho’ we
cannot build a Cottage or little Bridge, without such Preparations.

He proceeds then to the following Verses in that thirty-eighth Chapter.
_Who shut up the Sea with Doors, when it broke forth as if it had issued
out of a Womb?_ This the Theorist understands of the _Disruption_ of the
_Abyss_ at the Deluge, when the Sea broke forth out of the Womb of the
Earth: Or out of that subterraneous Cavity, where it was enclosed as in
a Womb. ’Tis plainly imply’d in the Words of the Text, that the Sea was
shut up in some _Womb_, before it broke forth. I desire therefore to
know in what _Womb_ that was. You will find Interpreters much at a loss
to give a fair Answer to that Question: What was that enclos’d State of
the Sea? And what Place, or Part of Nature, was that Receptacle where it
lay? But the Exceptor hath found out a new Answer. He says, it was that
_Womb_ of Non-entity. These are his Words, _It just then_ (at its
Creation) _gushed out of the Womb of Nothing, into Existence_. This is a
subtle and far-fetch’d Notion. Methinks the _Womb of Nothing_, is
much-what the same as _no Womb_. And so this is no Answer. But however
let us consider how far it would suit this Case, if it was admitted. If
you understand the _Womb of Non-entity_, _Gen._ i. 2. the Sea broke out
of that Womb the first Day, and had no Bars or Doors set to it, but
flow’d over all the Earth without Check or Control. Therefore that could
not be the Time or State here spoken of. And to refer that Restraint, or
those Bars and Doors, to another Time, which are spoken of here in the
same Verse, would be very inexcusable in the Exceptor: _p._ 150. seeing
he will not allow the Theorist to suppose those Things that are spoken
of in different Verses, to be understood of different Times. To
conclude, this metaphysical Notion of the _Womb of Nothing_, is
altogether impertinent, at least in this Case: For the Text is plainly
speaking of Things local and corporeal, and this Prison of the Sea must
be understood as such.

He proceeds now to the last Place alleg’d, _Prov._ viii. 27, 28. _When
he prepared the Heavens, I was there: When he set a Compass upon the
Face of the Deep._ The word חוג which we tender _Compass_, he says,
signifies no more than the Rotundity or spherical Figure of the Abyss.
And so the Sense will run thus, _When God set a Rotundity_, or
_spherical Figure, upon the Face of the Abyss_. But whereas the Word may
as well signify a _Sphere_ or _Orb_, the Theorist thinks it more
reasonable that it should be so translated: And so the Sentence would
run thus, _When God set an Orb upon the Face of the Deep._ And this
Discourse of _Solomon_’s, referring to the Beginning of the World, he
thinks it rational to understand it of the _first habitable Earth_:
Which is really an _Orb set over the Face of the Deep_.

One cannot swear for the Signification of a Word in every particular
Place, where it occurs: But when there are two Senses whereof it is
capable, and the one is much more important than the other, it is a fair
Presumption to take it in the more important Sense; especially in such a
Place, and upon such an Occasion, where the great Works of the Divine
Wisdom and Power are celebrated: As they are here by _Solomon_. And it
cannot be deny’d, that our Sense of the Words is more important than the
other: For of what Consequence is it to say, _God made the Body of the
Abyss_ round. Every one knows, that Fluids of their own accord run into
that Figure. So as that would be a small Remark upon a great Occasion.

The Construction of this Orb we speak of, minds me of an Injustice which
the Exceptor hath done the Theory, in the precedent Part of this
Chapter, by a false Accusation. For he says, the Theory makes the
Construction of the first Earth to have been _merely mechanical_. At
least, his Words seem to signify as much, which are these, _p._ 143.
_And so its Formation_, speaking of the first Earth, _had been merely
mechanical, as the Theory makes it_. That the Construction was not
merely mechanical, in the Opinion of the Theorist, you may see, _Eng.
Theor._ _p._ 88. which, because we have cited it before, we will not
here repeat. The Theorist might also complain, that the Exceptor cites
the first Edition of the Theory for such Things as are left out in the
second: Which yet was printed a Twelvemonth before his Animadversions.
And therefore in Fairness he ought always to have consulted the last
Edition, and last Sense of the Author, before he had censured him, or
his Work. But this unfair Method, it seems, pleas’d his Humour better:
_p._ 81. _p._ 100, last Part, as you may see in this Chapter, _p._ 154.
_p._ 227, 228. _p._ 244. and in several other Places; where Passages are
cited and insisted upon, that are no where to be found in the second
Edition. Not to mention his defective Citations, omitting that Part that
qualifies the Sentence, as _p._ 99. last Citation, and elsewhere, _p._
279, 280. _p._ 288. I make this Note, that the Reader may judge, how
well this answers that _Sincerity_, with which he profest he would
examine this Work: _Only as a Friend and Servant to Truth. And therefore
with such Candor, Meekness, and Modesty, as becomes one who assumes and
glories in so fair a Character_, _p._ 43.

The rest of this Chapter is a general Censure of Citations out of
Scripture, that are only tropical or figurative Schemes of Speech. These
must be made so indeed, if our Sense of them be not allow’d. But what
Necessity is there of a figurative interpretation of all these Texts?
The Rule we go by, and I think all good Interpreters, is this, that we
are not to leave the literal Sense, unless there be a Necessity, from
the Subject-Matter. And there is no such Necessity in this Case, upon
our Hypothesis: For it suits with the literal Sense. And ’tis to beg the
Question, to say, the literal Sense is not to be admitted, because it
complies too much with the Theory. But as for that Text of his own,
which he instances in, _The Pillars of the Earth tremble_, that cannot
be understood (by the same Rule) of Pillars _literally_; because there
are no such Pillars of the Earth, upon any Hypothesis.


                              CHAP. VIII.


This Chapter is concerning that grand Property of the ante-diluvian
Earth, _a perpetual Equinox_, or a right Position to the Sun. This
perpetual Equinox the Exceptor will by no means admit. But I’m afraid he
mistakes the Notion: For as he explains it in the two first Sections of
this Chapter, he seems to have a false Idea of the whole Matter. He
thinks, I perceive, that when the Earth chang’d its Situation, it was
translated from the Equator into the Ecliptick: And that before that
Change in the ante-diluvian State, it moved directly under the Equator.
For these are his Words, _p._ 158. So _that in her annual Motion about
the Sun_, namely, the Earth, before that Change, _she was carried
directly under the Equinoctial, without any Manner of Obliquity in her
Site, or Declination towards either of the Tropicks in her Course; and
therefore could never cut the Equinoctial, by passing (as now she is
presumed to do) from one Tropick to the other_. By which Words, you see,
he imagines that the Earth mov’d perpetually under the Equator, when it
had a perpetual Equinox. And when it came out of that State, into this
wherein it is now, it did not only change its Position, and the Posture
of its Axis, but was also really translated from one Part of the Heavens
into another, namely, from under the Equator to the Ecliptick, and so
took another Road in its annual Course about the Sun. This is a great
Mistake: And I cannot blame him, if he was so averse to admit this
Change, seeing it lay so cross in his Imagination. For what Pullies or
Leavers should we employ to remove the Earth out of the Equator into the
Ecliptick? _Archimedes_ pretended, if he had Ground to plant his Engines
upon, that he would move the Earth out of its Place; but that it was
done before, I never knew, nor heard of: And if the Exceptor had
consider’d what is said in the Theory upon that Occasion, _Lat. Theor.
li._ 2. _c._ 4. he might easily have prevented his Mistake. But we shall
meet with the same Error again in another Place. Let us consider now,
what Arguments he uses against this Change.

He says, _p._ 159. _If there had been such a Change_, either Providence,
or Mankind, would have preserv’d the Memory of it. How far the Memory of
it hath been preserv’d, we shall see hereafter. In the mean Time, we
will give him Instances of other Things to reflect upon, that are lost
out of Memory, unless he be the happy Man that shall retrieve them. The
_Age of the World_ hath been preserv’d, either by the Memory of Man, or
by the Care of Providence. And was not that both a Thing of Importance,
and of easy Preservation? _Noah_ could not but know the Age of the
World, for he was contemporary with five or six Generations, that were
contemporary with _Adam_. And knowing the Age of the World himself, he
could not easily forbear, one would think, to tell it to his Sons and
Posterity. But, to this Day, we do not know what the true Age of the
World is. There are three Bibles, if I may so say, or three
_Pentateuchs_, the _Hebrew_, _Samaritan_, and _Greek:_ Which do all
differ very considerably in their Accounts, concerning the Age of the
World: And the most learned Men are not yet able to determine with
Certainty, which of the three Accounts is most authentick. Then, what
think you of the Place of _Paradise_? How well is the Memory or
Knowledge of that preserv’d? Could _Noah_ be ignorant of it? And was it
not a fit Subject to discourse of, and entertain his Sons and Nephews,
and by them to communicate it to Posterity? Yet we seek it still in
vain. The _Jews_ were as much at a Loss as we are: _p._ 263, 264, 265.
and the Christian Fathers, you think, were out in their Opinions, both
about the Place and Conditions of it: Neither do you venture to
determine them your self: So that Paradise is lost in a Manner out of
the World. What Wonder then if this single Property of it be lost? If
the Exceptor had well consider’d (_Eng. Theor._ _p._ 400, 401.) what the
Theorist has said concerning the providential Conduct of Knowledge in
the World, this Doubt or Objection might have been spar’d.

After a long Excursion, little to the Purpose, but to shew his Reading,
_p._ 166. he tells us next, that Scripture does not favour this Notion
of a perpetual Equinox before the Flood: And cites _Gen._ viii. 22.
which the Theorist had cited as a Place that did suggest to us that
Vicissitude of Seasons that was established after the Flood. The Words
indeed are not so determinate in themselves, but that they may be
understood, either of the Restoration of a former Order in the Seasons
of the Year, or of the Establishment of a new one. And in whether Sense
they are to be taken, is to be determin’d by collateral Reasons and
Considerations. Such the Theorist had set down, to make it probable,
that they ought to be understood as a Declaration of such an Order of
the Seasons of the Year, as was brought in at that Time, and was to
continue to the End of the World. The Exceptor hath not thought fit to
take notice of, or refute those Reasons, and therefore they stand good,
as formerly. Besides, the Exceptor must remember, that this Text stands
betwixt two remarkable Phænomena, the Longevity of the Ante-diluvians in
the old World, and the Appearance of the Rainbow in the new. Both which
were Marks of a different State of Nature in the two Worlds.

He further excepts, _p._ 168. against that perpetual Equinox before the
Flood, for another Scripture-reason: _viz._ Because the Earth was curst
before that Time, and consequently, he says, had not a perpetual
Equinox. But if that Curse was supernatural, it might have its Effect in
any Position of the Earth. For God can make a Land barren, if he think
fit, in spite of the Course of Nature. And so he also must suppose it to
have been in this Case. For, upon all Suppositions, whether of a
perpetual Equinox, or no, the Earth is granted to have been very
fruitful at first: And so would have continued, if that Curse had not
interven’d.

Lastly, He makes that an Argument, _p._ 169. that the Air was cold and
intemperate in Paradise, and consequently no constant Equinox, _because_
Adam _and_ Eve _made themselves Aprons to cover their Nakedness_. So, he
confesses, Interpreters generally understand, that it was to _cover
their Nakedness_. But he will not allow that to be the true Sense, but
says those Fig-Leaves were to keep them warm. And the other
Interpretation of _covering their Nakedness_, he will not admit, for
three Reasons: First, because the Scripture, as he pretends, does not
declare it so. See, pray, _Gen._ iii. 7. Secondly, _What Shame_, says
he, _need there have been betwixt Husband and Wife_? Thirdly, _If it was
Modesty; when they were innocent, they should have been more modest._
Some Arguments answer themselves, and I do not think these deserve a
Confutation. But, he says, _p._ 170. however God made them _Coats of
Skins_ afterwards, and that was to be a _Defence against Cold._ He must
tell us in what Climate he supposes Paradise to have stood: And which
way, and how far _Adam_ and _Eve_ were banish’d from it. When those
Things are determin’d, we shall know what to judge of this Argument, and
of _Coats of Skins_.

After _Lastly_, I expected no more: But he hath two or three Reasons
after the _Last_. As first, he says, _p._ 171. upon our Hypothesis, one
Hemisphere of the Globe must have been unpeopled: Because the torrid
Zone was unpassable. And was not the Ocean as unpassable, upon your
Hypothesis? How got they into _America_? And not only into _America_,
but into all the Islands of the Earth, that are remote from Continents?
Will you not allow us one Miracle, for your many? I’m sure the Theorist
never excluded the Ministry of Angels; and they could as easily carry
them thorough the torrid Zone, as over the Ocean. But secondly, he says,
There could be no Rains to make the Flood, if there was a perpetual
Equinox. Were not those Rains, that made the Flood, extraordinary, and
out of the Course of Nature? You would give one angry Words that should
deny it. Besides, the _Flood-Gates of Heaven_ were open’d when the
_great Deep_ was broken up, (_Gen._ vii. 11.) and no Wonder the
Disruption of the Earth should cause some extraordinary Commotions in
the Air, _Eng. Theor._ _p._ 135. and either compress the Vapours, or
stop their usual Course towards the Poles, and draw them down in Streams
upon several Parts of the Earth. But the Exceptor says, this could not
be, because the Theorist makes the Rains fall before the Disruption of
the Abyss. But he does not suppose the _Cataracts of Heaven_ to have
been open’d before, which made the grand Rains. And how unfairly that
Passage of the Theory is represented, we shall see hereafter in the
fourteenth Chapter.

Lastly, He concludes all with this Remark, _p._ 176. That all sorts of
Authors have disputed in what Season of the Year the Deluge came, and in
what Season of the Year the World began: Therefore they thought there
were then different Seasons of the Year. These Disputes, he confesses,
did _manifestly proceed from Inadvertency_, or something worse: Because
there could not be any one Season throughout all the Earth at once. He
might have added, unless upon the Supposition of the Theory, which makes
an universal Equinox at that Time. And why may not that have given
Occasion to the general Belief, _That the World begun in the Spring_?
And when the true Reason of the Tradition was lost, they fell into those
impertinent Questions, _In what Season of the Year the World began_. But
however, we do not depend upon the Belief, either of the Antients or the
Moderns, as to the Generality: For we know they had other Notions of
these Things than what the Theory proposes; otherwise it would have been
a needless Work. But notwithstanding the general Error, that Providence
did preserve some Traditions and Testimonies, concerning that ancient
Truth, we shall see in the next following Discourse.

So much for Scripture and Reasons. He now comes to examine Authorities:
Namely, such Testimonies as are alledg’d by the Theorist, to shew that
there was a Tradition among the Antients, of _a Change that had been, as
to the Position of the Earth_: And consequently, as to the Form and
Seasons of the Year. The first Testimony that he excepts against, is,
that of _Diogenes_ and _Anaxagoras_; who witness plainly, _p._ 177. That
there had been an _Inclination_ of the Earth, or a Change of Posture,
since it was form’d and inhabited. But the Exceptor says, they have not
assign’d a true _final Cause_, nor such as agrees with the Theory. The
second Testimony, is, that of _Empedocles_, p. 178. which he excepts
against, because he hath not given a good _efficient Cause_ of that
Change. The third Witness is _Leucippus_; against whom he makes the same
Exception, _p._ 179. that he doth not assign the Causes a-right. The
fourth Witness, is _Democritus_; whom he, _p._ 180. quarrels with upon
the same Account. But is this a fair hearing of Witnesses? Or are these
just and legal Grounds of rejecting their Testimony, as to matter of
Fact, because they are unskilful in giving the Causes and Reasons of
that matter of Fact? That is not requir’d in Witnesses: And they are
often impertinent when they attempt to do it. The Theorist does not cite
these Authors to learn of them the Causes, either efficient or final, of
that _Inclination_, or Change of Posture in the Earth, but only matter
of Fact: To let you see, that according to their Testimony, there was a
Tradition in that Time, which they took for true, concerning a Change
made in the Posture of the Earth. And this is all we require from them.
If you pretend to invalidate their Testimony, because they do not
philosophize well about that Change; that’s as if you should deny that
there was such a War as the _Peloponnesian_ War, because the Historian
hath not assigned the true Causes and Reasons of it: Or as if a Man
should give you the History of a Comet, that appear’d in such a Year,
was of such a Form, and took such a Course in the Heavens; and you
should deny there was any such Comet, because the same Author had not
given a good Account of the Generation of that Comet, nor of the Causes
of its Form and Motion. The Exceptions made against the Testimonies of
these Philosophers, seem to me to be no less injudicious.

After these Testimonies, he _p._ 181. makes three or four Remarks or
Reflections upon them. But they all concern, either the Time of this
Change, or the Causes of it. Neither of which the Theorist either
engag’d or intended to prove from these Witnesses.

There is still one Testimony behind, which the Exceptor hath separated
from the rest, that he might encounter it singly. ’Tis another Passage
from _Anaxagoras_, which both notes this _Inclination_, and the Posture
of the Heavens and Earth before that Inclination. But here the Exceptor
quarrels, first, with the word θολοειδῶς: Because _Ambrosius_ the Monk,
would have it to be θολερπῶς, but without the Authority of any
Manuscript: And, as _Casaubon_ says, _malè_. Then, he says,
_Aldobrandinus_ translates it _turbulentè_, but gives no Reason for that
Translation, in his Notes. Therefore he cannot rest in this, but in the
third Place, he gives another Sense to Φορὰ Θολοειδής. And if that will
not please you, he hath still a fourth Answer in reserve. I do not like
when a Man shifts Answer so often; ’tis a sign he has no great
Confidence in any one. But let us have his fourth Answer. ’Tis this,
That _Anaxagoras_ was a kind of heterodox Philosopher, and what he says
is not much to be heeded. These are the Words of the Exceptor, p. 184.
_If this will not satisfy, I have one Thing more to offer. Grant that_
Anaxagoras _should mean that very Declination, which the Theory would
have him, yet this truly would contribute little towards the Proof of
the Thing. For he was a Man as like to be heterodox; as like to broach
and maintain false and groundless Opinions, as any of the learned
Antients._ Had he made this Exception against this Witness at first, it
might have sav’d both himself and us a great deal of Pains. For we do
allow, if you can prove a Witness to be _persona infamis_, or _non
compos mentis_, ’tis sufficient to invalidate his Testimony.

But this is a rude and groundless Censure; shall that famous
_Anaxagoras_, that was call’d _MENS_, κατὶ ἐοχὴν, not be thought so much
as _mentis compos_; nor have Credit enough for an honest Witness? I am
apt to think, from those Sentences, and those Remains we have left of
him, that there was not a more considerable Man amongst the Antients,
for Nobleness of Mind and natural Knowledge. I could bring the
Testimonies of many antient Authors, and of many Christian Fathers, to
clear his Reputation, and place it above Envy. ’Tis generally
acknowledg’d, that he first introduc’d an intellectual Principle, in the
Formation of the Universe, to dispose and order confus’d Matter. And
accordingly _Eusebius_ gives him this fair Character, _Præp. Evan. l._
10. _c. ult. p._ 504. _Col._ δὴ πρῶτος διήρθρωσε, &c. _He first
rectified the Doctrine of Principles: For he did not only discourse
about the Matter or Substance of the Universe, as other Philosophers:
But also of the Cause and Principle of its Motion._ And the same Author,
in his fourteenth Book, _ch._ 14. _p._ 750. repeats and enlarges this
Character.

I wonder the Exceptor, of all Men, should lessen the Name of
_Anaxagoras_. For, besides his Orthodoxy as to the intellectual World;
he was one that establish’d the Notion of _Vortices_, in the Corporeal.
As you may see in _Clem. Alexandrinus_, _Strom._ 2. _p._ 364. and in
_Plato’s Phædo Phæd._ _p._ 99. And tho’ the _Father_, and _Socrates_,
(who never was a Friend to natural Philosophy) both blame him for it,
yet the Exceptor, who is deservedly pleas’d with that system of
_Vortices_, ought to have shew’d him some Favour and Esteem, for the
Sake of this Doctrine. Lastly, as to his moral Temper, his Contempt of
the World, and his Love of Contemplation; you may have many Instances of
it in the short Story of his Life in _Laertius_. And I shall always
remember that excellent Saying of his in _Clemens Alexandrinus_, _Strom.
p._ 416. Τὴν θεωρίαν τοῦ βίου τέλος εἶναι, καὶ τὴν ἀπὸ ταύτης
ἐλευθερίαν. _That the End of Life is Contemplation; and that Liberty,
that accompanies it, or flows from it._

But we are not to imagine, that all the Opinions of the ancient
Philosophers, are truly convey’d or represented to us. Neither can we,
in Reason or Justice, believe that they could be guilty of such absurd
Notions, as are sometimes fathered upon them. The Exceptor instances in
an extravagant Assertion, (as the Story is told to us) ascrib’d to
_Anaxagoras_, of a _Stone that fell from the Sun_. This cannot be
literally true, nor literally the Opinion of _Anaxagoras_, if he
believed _Vortice_; therefore methinks so witty a Man as the Exceptor,
and so well versed in the modern Philosophy, should rather interpret
this of the Incrustation of a fix’d Star, and its Descent into the lower
World: That a Star fell from the etherial Regions, and became an opake
and terrestrial Body: Especially seeing _Diogenes_, as he says, supposes
it a Star. Some Things were ænigmatically spoken at first: And some
Things afterwards so much corrupted, in passing through unskilful Hands,
that we should be very injurious to the Memory of those great Men, if we
should suppose every Thing to have come so crudely from them, as it is
now delivered to us. And as to this Philosopher in particular; as the
_Ionick_ Physiology, in my Opinion, was the most considerable amongst
the Antients; so there was none, of that Order, more considerable than
_Anaxagoras_. Whom, tho’ you should suppose extravagant, _quoad hoc_,
that it would not invalidate his Testimony in other Things.

Upon the whole Matter, let us now sum up the Evidence, and see what it
will amount to. Here are five or six Testimonies of considerable
Philosophers: _Anaxagoras_, _Diogenes_, _Empedocles_, _Leucippus_ and
_Democritus_. To which he might have added _Plato_, both in his
_Politicus_ and _Phædo_, _Li._ 2. _c._ 10. _p._ 274. if he had pleased
to have look’d into the second Edition of the _Latin_ Theory. These
Philosophers do all make mention of a Change that hath been in the
Posture of the Earth and the Heavens. And tho’ they differ in assigning
Causes, or other Circumstances, yet they all agree as to Matter of Fact;
that there was such a Thing, or, at least, a Tradition of such a Thing.
And this is all that the Defendant desir’d or intended to prove from
them, as Witnesses in this Cause.

To these _Philosophers_, he might have added the Testimonies of the
_Poets_, who may be admitted as Witnesses of a Tradition, though it be
further questioned, whether that Tradition be true or false. These
Poets, when they speak of a _Golden Age_, or the _Reign of Saturn_, tell
us of a _perpetual Spring_, or a Year without Change of Seasons. This is
expresly said by _Ovid_, _Ver erat æternum_, &c. And upon the Expiration
of the Golden Age, he says;

               _Jupiter Antiqui contraxit tempora Veris,
               Perque Hyemes, Æstusque, & inæquales Autumnos,
               Et breve Ver, spatiis exegit quatuer annum._

_Ovid_ liv’d in the Time of our Saviour. And the Tradition, it seems,
was then a-foot, and very express too. _Plato_, who was much more
antient, hath said the same Thing in his _Politicus_, concerning the
_Reign of Saturn_. And if we may have any Regard to _Mythology_, (vid.
_Theor. Lat._ _li._ 2. _c._ 10. _in fine_.) and make _Janus_ the same
with _Noah_, which is now an Opinion generally received, that Power,
that is given him by the Antients, of _changing Times and Seasons_,
cannot be better expounded, than by that great Change of Time, and of
the Seasons of the Year, that happened in the Days of _Noah_. Neither
must we count it a mere Fable, what is said by the Antients, concerning
the Inhabitability of the _Torrid Zone_: And yet that never was, if the
Earth was never in any other Posture, than what it is in now.

Lastly, as the Philosophers and Poets are Witnesses of this Tradition,
so many of the Christian Fathers have given such a Character of
_Paradice_, as cannot be understood upon any other Supposition, than of
a _perpetual Equinox_. This _Card. Bellarmine_[17] hath noted to our
Hands; and also observ’d, that there could not be a perpetual Equinox in
the Countries of _Asia_, nor indeed in any topical Paradise, (unless it
stood in the middle of the Torrid Zone) _nisi alius tunc fuerit cursus
solis, quam nunc est_; _unless the Course of the Sun_, or, which is all
one, the Posture of the Earth, _was otherwise at that Time than what it
is now_: Which is a true Observation. The _Jewish_ Doctors also, as well
as the Christian, seem to go upon the same Supposition, when they place
Paradise under the Equinoctial; see _Eng. Theor._ p. 351. Because they
suppos’d it certain, as _Eben Ezra_ tells us, that the Days and Nights
were always equal in Paradise.

We have now done with the Examination of Witnesses: _Philosophers_,
_Poets_, _Jews_, and _Christians_. From all these we collect, that there
was an Opinion, or Tradition, amongst the Antients, of a Change made in
the State of the natural World, as to the Diversity of Seasons in the
Year: And that this did arise from the Change of the Posture of the
Earth. Whether this Opinion, or this Tradition, was _de jure_, as well
as _de facto_, is a Question of another Nature, that did not lie before
us at present. But the Thing that was only in Debate in this Chapter,
was matter of Fact, which I think we have sufficiently prov’d.

In the Close of this Chapter, the Exceptor makes two Queries: Still by
way of Objection to the ante-diluvian Equinox. The first is this, p.
185. _Supposing an Equinox in the Beginning of the World, would it (in
Likelyhood) have continued to the Flood._ If you grant the first Part, I
believe few will scruple the second. For why should we suppose a Change
before there appear any Cause for it? He says, the Waters might possibly
have weigh’d more towards one Pole, than towards another. But why the
Waters more than the Air? The Waters were not more rarified towards one
Pole than towards another, no more than the Air was: For which the
Exceptor, _p._ 180. had justly blam’d _Leucippus_ before. But however,
_says he_, that Earth would be very unstable, because, in Process of
Time, there would be an empty Space betwixt the exterior Region of the
Earth, and the Abyss below. But that empty Space would be fill’d with
such gross Vapours, that it would be little purer than Water: And would
stick to the Earth much closer than its Atmosphere that is carried about
with it. We have no Reason to change the Posture of the Earth, till we
see some antecedent Change that may be a Cause of it. And we see not any
till the Earth broke. But then indeed, whether its Posture depended
barely upon its _Æquilibrium_, or upon its _Magnetism_, either, or both
of them, when its Parts were thrown into another Situation, might be
changed. For the Parts of a Ruin seldom lie in the same Libration the
Fabrick stood in. And as to the Magnetism of the Earth, that would
change, according as the Parts and Regions of the Earth changed their
Situation.

The second Query is this, granting there was such an Equinox in the
first World, _p._ 187. _Would not the natural World, towards the latter
End of that World, have been longer, than in the former Periods of the
same?_ Suppose this was true, which yet we have no Reason to believe,
that the Days were longer towards the Flood, than towards the beginning
of the World; why is this contrary to Scripture? He tells you how, in
these Words, _p._ 188. _That the Days just before the Flood were of no
unusual Length, is evident in the very Story of the Flood; the Duration
of which we find computed by Months, consisting of thirty Days a-piece._
Whereas _had Days been grown longer, fewer of them would have made a
Month_. This is a mere Paralogism, or a mere Blunder. For if thirty Days
were to go to a Month, whether the Days were longer or shorter, there
must be thirty of them; and the Scripture does not determine the Length
of the Days. If thirty Circumgyrations of the Earth makes a Month,
whether these Circumgyrations are slow or swift, thirty are still
thirty. But I suppose that which he would have said and which he had
confusedly in his Mind, was this, that the _Month_ would have been
longer at the Flood than it was before. _Longer_, I say, as to extent of
Time, or Duration in general, but not as to number of Days. And you
could not cut off a slip of one Day, and tack it to the next, through
the intermediate Night, to make an Abridgment for the Whole. Therefore
this Objection is grounded upon a Mistake, and ill Reasoning, which is
now sufficiently detected.

Footnote 17:

  _De Grat. prim. tm. c. 12._

  _Accedit adbat, quad Paradisus ita deferiditus à Sinsto_ Basilio_, in
  I. ’to de Paradiso; à_ Joan. Damasceno,_ Libre secundo, de fide,
  capit; à Sano_ Augustino _Libre decim: quarto et cevit ete Dei, capit.
  10. Ab A, A & Claud. Ma._


                               CHAP. IX.


This Chapter is against the _oval Figure of the first Earth_, p. 189.
which the Theorist had asserted, and grounded upon a general Motion of
the Waters, forc’d from the Equinoctial Parts towards the Polar. But
before we proceed to his Objections against this Explication, we must
rectify one Principle. The Exceptor seems to suppose, _p._ 190. that
terrestrial Bodies have a _Nitency inwards or downwards, towards their
central Point_. Whereas the Theorist supposes, that all Bodies moving
round, have, more or less, a Nitency from the Centre of their Motion:
And that ’tis by an external Force that they are prest down, against
their first Inclination or Nitency.

This being premised, we proceed to his Exceptions: Where his first and
grand Quarrel is about the Use of a Word; whether the Motion of the
Water from the middle of the Earth towards the Poles, can be call’d
_defluxus_; seeing those polar Parts, in this supposed Case, were as
high, or higher than the Equinoctial. I think we do not scruple to say
_undæ defluunt ad littora_: Tho’ the Shores be as high, or higher than
the Surface of the Sea. For we often respect, as the Theorist did, the
_middle_ and the _sides_, in the use of that Word; And so, _defluere è
medio ad latera_, is no more than _prolabi ad latera_. But ’tis not
worth the while to contest about a Word; especially seeing ’tis
explained in the second Edition of the Theory, _p._ 186, by adding
_detrusione_: But it would have spoil’d all this Pedantry, and all his
little Triumphs, if he had taken notice of that Explication.

Wherefore setting aside the _Word_, let us consider his _Reasons_
against this Motion of the Waters towards the Poles; which, he says,
could not be, because it would have been an Ascent, not a Descent. We
allow and suppose that. But may not Waters ascend by Force and
Detrusion; when it is the easiest way they can take to free themselves
from that Force, and persevere in their Motion? And this is the Case we
are speaking to. They were impell’d to ascend, or recede from the
Centre, and it was easier for them to ascend laterally, than to ascend
directly: Upon an inclined Plain, than upon a perpendicular one. Why
then should we not suppose that they took that Course? Methinks the
Observator, who seems to be much conversant in the _Cartesian_
Philosophy, might have conceived this Detrusion of the Waters towards
the Poles by the Resistance of the superambient Air, as well as their
flowing towards, and upon the Shores, by the Pressure of the Air under
the Moon. And if the Moon continued always in the same Place, or over
the middle of the Sea, that Posture of the Waters would be always the
same: Though it be an Ascent, both upon the Land and into the Rivers.
And this, methinks, is neither Contradiction, nor Absurdity. But an
Enemy, that is little us’d to Victory, makes a great Noise upon a small
Advantage.

He proceeds now to shew, _p._ 195. that it was improbable that the
Figure of the first Earth should be oval, upon other Considerations. As
first, because of its Position; which would be cross to the Stream of
the Air, that turns it round, or carries it about the Sun: As a Ship, he
says, that stands side-ways against a Stream, cannot sail. But if that
Ship was to turn round upon her Axis, as a Mill-Wheel, and as the Earth
does, what Posture more likely to have such an Effect, than to stand
cross to the Stream that turns it? And the Stream would take more hold
of an oblong Body, than of a round. Then, as to its annual Course, which
he mentions, that’s nothing, but so many Circumvolutions: For in turning
round it is also progressive, as a Cylinder in rowling a Garden: And
three hundred sixty five Circumgyrations compleat its annual Course. So
that this Argument turns wholly against him, and does rather confirm the
oval Figure of the Earth.

His second Argument against the oval Figure of the first Earth, is the
spherical Figure of the present Earth. And how does he prove that? First
from Authorities, _Anaximander_, _Pythagoras_, and _Perminedes_ thought
so. But how does he prove that their asserting the Earth to be _round_,
was not meant in Opposition to its being _plain_; as the _Epicureans_
and the Vulgar would have it? That was the Question _Socrates_ promis’d
himself to be resolv’d in by _Anaxagoras_, _Plat. in Phæd._ πότερεν ἡ γῆ
πλατεῖα ἔπις, ἢ αρογγύλη. _Whether the Earth was flat or round._ And
’tis likely the Dispute was generally understood in that Sense. However
the Theorist hath alledg’d many more Authorities than these, in favour
of the oval Figure of the Earth. For besides _Empedocles_ in particular,
and those whom _Plutarch_ mentions in general, the Philosophy of
_Orpheus_, the _Phœnician_, _Ægyptian_, and _Persian Philosophers_, did
all compare the Earth to an Egg; with respect to its oval external Form,
as well as internal Composition. These you may see fully set down in the
_Theory: Lat. Theor. li. 2. c. 10_. And it had been fair in the Exceptor
to have taken some notice of them, if he would contend in that way of
Authorities. But he has thought fit rather to pass them over wholly in
Silence.

His Reasons, _p._ 197. to prove the Figure of the present Earth to be
spherical, and not oval, are taken first from the Conical Figure of the
Shadow of the Earth, cast upon the Moon. But that cannot make a
Difference sensible to us at this Distance, whether the Body that cast
the Shadow was exactly spherical or oval. His second Reason is _from the
Place of the Waters_; which, he says, would all retire from the Poles to
the Equator, if the polar Parts were higher. But this has been answer’d
before. The same Cause that drives the Waters thither, would make them
keep there: As we should have a perpetual Flood, if the Moon was always
in our Meridian: And whereas he suggests, that by this Means the Sea
should be shallowest under the Poles; which, he says, is against
Experience: We tell him just the contrary, That, according to our
Hypothesis, the Sea should be deepest towards the Poles; which agrees
with Experience. That the Sea should be deepest under the Poles, if it
was of an oval Form, _p._ 186. he may see plainly by his own Scheme, or
by the Theory Scheme: _Theor. Lat. li. 2. c. 5_. So that if his
Observation be true, of an extraordinary Depth of the Ocean in those
Parts, it confirms our Suspicion, that the Sea continues still oval.
Lastly, he urges, _p._ 198. If this Earth was oval, Navigation towards
the Poles would be extremely difficult, if not impossible, because upon
an Ascent. But if there be a continual Draught of Waters from the
Equator towards the Poles, this will ballance the Difficulty, and be
equivalent to a gentle Tide, that carries Ships into the Mouth of a
River, though upon a gradual Ascent.

Thus much we have said in Complacency to the Exceptor. For the Theorist
was not oblig’d to say any Thing in Defence of the oval Form of the
present Earth, seeing he had no where asserted it: It not being
possible, as to what Evidence we have yet, to determine in what Order
the Earth fell, and in what Posture the Ruins lay after their Fall. But
however, to speak my Mind freely upon this Occasion, I am inclinable to
believe, that the Earth is still oval or oblong. What Things the
Anti-theorist hath suggested, will not decide the Controversy; nor, it
may be, any natural History, nor any of those Observations that we have
already. The Surface of the Sea lies more regular than that of the Land,
and therefore I should think that Observations made there would have the
best Effect. I should particularly recommend these two: First, That they
would observe toward the Poles, whether the Sun rise and set, according
to the Rules of a true Globe, or of a Body exactly spherical. Secondly,
That they would observe whether the Degrees of Latitude are of equal
Extent in all the Parts of a Meridian; that is, if the Quantity of Sea
or Land that answers to a Degree in the Heavens, be of equal Extent
towards the Equator as towards the Poles. These two Observations would
go the nearest of any I know, to determine whether the Figure of the
Earth be truly spherical or oblong.


                                CHAP. X.


This Chapter is concerning the _original Mountains_, and that they were
before the Flood, or from the Beginning; which the Exceptor endeavours
to prove from Scripture; not directly, but because Mention is made of
them in the same Places where the Beginning of the Earth is mentioned,
_p._ 291. as _Psal._ xc. 1, 2. and _Prov._ viii. 25. therefore they must
be co-eval and contemporary. We have, I think, noted before, that Things
are not always Synchronal that are mentioned together in Scripture. The
Style of Scripture is not so accurate, as not to speak of Things in the
same Place, that are to be referr’d to different Times. Otherwise we
must suppose the Destruction of _Jerusalem_, and of the _World_, to have
been intended for the same Time; seeing our Saviour joins them in the
same Discourse, (_Mat._ xxiv.) without any Distinction of Time; or with
such a Distinction, as rather signifies an immediate Succession, (_ver._
29.) than so great a Distance as we now find to be betwixt the
Destruction of _Jerusalem_ and the End of the World. Greater than that,
betwixt the Beginning and the Flood: So in the Prophets sometimes, in
the same Discourse, one Part is to be referr’d to the first Coming of
our Saviour, and another Part to the second. _Isa._ ix. 6, 7. _Isa._ ix.
1. &c. _Luke_ i. 31, 32, 33. without making any Distinction of Time, but
what is to be gather’d from the Sense. Neither is there any Incongruity
in the Sense, or in the Tenor of the Words, if those Expressions in the
Psalmist be referr’d to different Times. God existed _before the
Mountains were brought forth, and the Earth and the World were made_.
This is certainly true, whether you take it of the same or different
Times. And if you take it of different Times, ’tis a way of Speaking we
often use. As suppose a Man should say, concerning the Antiquity of
_Troy_, that it existed before _Rome_ and _Carthage_; that does not
necessarily imply, that _Rome_ and _Carthage_ were built at the same
Time; but only that _Troy_ was before them both. And so this of the
Psalmist may be very well thus exprest, by a Gradation from a lower
Epocha to an higher. Then as for that Place, _Prov._ _ch._ viii. it
would be very hard to reduce all those Things that are mentioned there,
(from _ver._ 22. to 30.) to the same Time of Existence; and there is no
Necessity from the Words that they should be so understood. The Design
and Intention of the Holy Ghost is plain in both these Places: In the
one to set out the Eternity of God, and in the other, of the _Logos_ in
particular. And this is done by shewing their Præ-existence to this
Earth, and to all its greatest and most remarkable Parts.

He mentions also, _p._ 202. _Deut._ xxxiii. 15. where the Hills are
call’d _Lasting_, and the Mountains _Antient_. And _therefore they were
before the Flood_. This is a hard Consequence. The River _Kishon_ is
call’d the _antient_ River, _Judg._ v. 21. but I do not therefore think
it necessary, that that Brook should have been before the Flood. Things
may very well deserve that Character of _lasting_ or _antient_, though
they be of less Antiquity than the Deluge. If one should say the
_lasting Pyramids_, and _antient Babylon_, none could blame the
Expression, nor yet think that they were therefore from the Beginning of
the World.

After these Allegations from Scripture, _p._ 205. he descends to a
natural Argument taken from the _Mountains in the Moon_; which, he says,
are much higher than the Mountains upon the Earth: And therefore, seeing
her Body is less, they could not be made by a Dissolution of that
Planet, as these of the Earth are said to have been. Though we are not
bound to answer for the Mountains in the Moon, yet however, ’tis easy to
see that this is no good Argument: For, besides that the Orb there might
be more thick, all Ruins do not fall alike. They may fall double, or in
Ridges and Arches, or in steep Piles, some more than others, and so
stand at a greater Height. And we have Reason to believe that those in
the Moon fell otherwise than those of the Earth; because we do not see
her turn round: Nor can we ever get a Sight of her Backside, that we
might better judge of the Shapes of her whole Body.

From this natural Argument, _p._ 206. he proceeds to an historical
Argument, taken from the _Talmudists_ and _Josephus_. The _Talmudists_
say, that _many Giants sav’d themselves from the Flood upon Mount Sion_.
But this, the Exceptor confesses, _is wholly fabulous_. What need it
then be mentioned as an Argument? Then he says, _Josephus_ reports, that
_many sav’d themselves from the Flood upon the Mountain_ Baris _in_
Armenia. But this also, _p._ 207. he says, is _false in the Gross_, and
a _formal Fiction_. Why then, say I, is it brought in as an Argument?
Lastly, he quotes a Passage out of _Plato_, who says, when the _Gods
shall drown the Earth, the Herdsmen and Shepherds shall save themselves
upon Mountains_. And this (_ibid._) the Exceptor calls a _Piece of
confus’d Forgery_. Why then, say I still, is it alledged as an Argument
against the Theory? But however, says the Exceptor, these Things argue
that many thought there were Mountains before the Flood. But did the
Theorist ever deny, that it was the vulgar and common Opinion? Therefore
such Allegations as these may be of some Use to shew Reading, but of no
Effect at all to confute the Theory.

Yet the Exceptor is not content with these Stories, but he must needs
add a Fourth; which, he says, _p._ 208. is a _plain Intimation that
there were Mountains in the Beginning of the World_. Take his own Words
for the Story, and the Application of it. _I will only add that
traditional Story which is told of_ Adam; _namely, how that after his
Fall, and when he repented of his Sin, he bewailed it for several
hundred of Years, upon the Mountains of_ India. _Another plain
Intimation that THERE WERE MOUNTAINS_ in the Beginning of the World.
This is a plain Intimation indeed, that those that made this Fable,
thought there were Mountains then: But is it a Proof that there really
was so? As you seem to infer. Does the Exceptor really believe, that
_Adam_ wander’d an hundred Years upon the Mountains of _India_? If the
Matter of Fact be false, the Supposition it proceeds upon may as well be
false. And he does not so much as cite an Author here, for the one or
the other.

We are now come to the main Point, a new Hypothesis concerning the
_Original of Mountains_, which the Exceptor, _p._ 208, 209, _&c._ hath
vouchsafed to make for us: And, in short, it is this. When the Waters
were drain’d off the Land on the third Day, while it was moist and full
of Vapours, the _Sun_, by his Heat, made the Earth heave and rise up in
many Places, which thereupon became Mountains. But lest we mistake or
misrepresent the Author’s Sense, _p._ 209. we will give it in his own
Words. _Now the Earth, by this Collection of the Waters into one Place,
being freed from the Load and Pressure of them, and laid open to the
Sun, the Moisture within, by the Heat of his Beams, might quickly be
turn’d into Vapours. And these Vapours being still increased by the
continued rarifying Warmth from above, at length they wanted Space
wherein to expand or dilate themselves. And at last, not enduring the
Confinement they felt, by Degrees heaved up the Earth above; somewhat
after the Manner that Leaven does Dough, when it is laid by a Fire; but
much more forcibly and unevenly. And lifting it up thus in numberless
Places, and in several Quantities, and in various Figures, Mountains
were made of all Shapes and Sizes_; whose Origin and Properties, he
says, upon this Hypothesis, _will be obvious, or at least intelligible,
to thinking and philosophick Minds_.

I must confess I am none of those _thinking and philosophick Minds_, to
whom this is either obvious or intelligible: For there seem to me to be
a great many palpable Defects or Oversights in this new Hypothesis:
Whereof this is one of the grossest, that he supposes the Sun, by his
Heat, the third Day to have raised these Mountains upon the Earth;
whereas the Sun was not created till the fourth Day, p. 51. _the fourth
Day was the first Day of the Sun’s Existence_: So that it had this
powerful Effect, it seems, one Day before it came into Being.

But suppose the Sun had then existed: This is a prodigious Effect for
the Sun to perform, in so short a Time, and with so little Force. The
greatest Part of that Day was spent in draining the Waters from off the
Land; which had a long Way to go, from some inland Countries, to reach
the Sea, or their common Receptacle. And he says, _p._ 209, without an
extraordinary Power, _perhaps they could not have been drained off the
Earth in one Day_. Let us then allow, at least, half a Day for clearing
the Ground; for the Sun might begin his Work about Noon; and before
Night he had rais’d all the Mountains of one Hemisphere. It will require
a strong philosophick Faith, to believe this could be all done by the
Action of the Sun, an in so short a Time. Besides, we must consider,
that the Sun, by Noon, had past all the Eastern Countries, yet covered
with Water, or not well drain’d: So that after they were dried, he could
only look back upon them with faint and declining Rays. Yet the
Mountains of the East are as great and considerable as elsewhere. But
there is still another great Difficulty in the Case, as to the Northern
and Southern Mountains of the Earth; for they lie quite out of the Road
of the Sun; being far remov’d towards either Pole; where, by reason of
his Distance and Obliquity, his Beams have little Force. How would he
heave up the _Riphæan_ Mountains, those vast Heaps of Stone and Earth,
that lie so far to the North? You see what Observations the Exceptor
hath made(_p._ 119, 120.) concerning the Cold of those Countries: And it
falls out very untowardly for this new Hypothesis, that the Northern
Parts of the Earth, as _Norway_, _Swedeland_, _Iseland_, _Scythia_,
_Sarmatia_, &c. should be such mountainous and rocky Countries; where he
had before declar’d the Sun had so little Force. And, indeed, according
to his Scheme, all the great Mountains of the Earth should have been
under the Equator, or, at least, betwixt the Tropicks.

But to examine a little the Manner and Method of this great Action, and
what kind of Bodies these new Mountains would be; either the Sun drew up
only the Surface and outward Skin of the Earth, as Cupping-Glasses raise
Blisters; or his Beams penetrated deep into the Earth, and heaved up the
Substance of it, as Moles cast up Mole-Hills. If you take the first
Method, these superficial Mountains would be nothing but so many Bags of
Wind; and not at all answerable to those huge Masses of Earth and Stone,
whereof our Mountains consist. And if you take the second Method, and
suppose them push’d out of the solid Earth, and thrown up into the Air,
imagine then how deep these Rays of the Sun must have penetrated in a
few Hours Time, and what Strength they must have had, to agitate the
Vapours to that Degree, that they should be able to do such Prodigies as
these. Several Mountains, upon a moderate Computation, are a Mile high
from the Level of the Earth. So that it was necessary that the Beams of
the Sun should penetrate at least a Mile deep, in so short a Time; and
there loosen and rarify the Vapours, and then tear up by the Roots vast
Loads and Extents of Ground, and heave them a Mile high into the open
Air: And all this in less than half a Day. Such Things surely are beyond
all imagination, and so extravagant, that one cannot, in Conscience,
offer them to the Belief of a Man. Can we think that the Sun, who is two
or three Hours in licking up the Dew from the Grass in a _May_ Morning,
should be able, in as many more Hours, to suck the _Alps_ and
_Pyreneans_ out of the Bowels of the Earth; and not to spend all his
Force upon them neither? For he would have as much Work in other
Countries. To raise up _Taurus_, for instance, and _Imaus_, and frozen
_Caucasus_ in _Asia_; and the mighty _Atlas_, and the _Mountains_ of the
_Moon_ in _Africk_; besides the _Andes_ in _America_, which, they say,
far exceed all the Mountains of our Continent. One would be apt to
think, that this Gentleman never saw the Face of a mountainous Country;
for he writes of them, as if he had taken his Idea of Mountains, and the
great Ridges of Mountains, upon the Earth, from the _Devil’s Ditch_, and
_Hogmagog Hills_: And he raises them faster than Mushrooms out of the
Ground. If the newborn Sun, at his first Appearance, could make such
great Havock, and so great Changes upon the Face of the Earth, what hath
he been doing ever since? We never heard nor read of a Mountain, since
the Memory of Man, rais’d by the Heat of the Sun. We may therefore
enquire, in the last Place,

Why have we no Mountains made now by the same Causes? We have no Reason
to believe that the Heat or Strength of the Sun is lessen’d since that
Time; why then does it not produce like Effects? But I imagine he hath
an Answer for this: Namely, that the Moisture of the first Earth, when
it was new drain’d and marshy, contributed much to this Effect; which
now its Dryness hinders. But besides, that the Dryness of the Earth
should rather give an Advantage, by the Collection of Vapours within its
Cavities: However, we might expect, according to this Reason, that all
our drain’d Fens and marshy Grounds, should presently be rais’d into
Mountains; whereas we see them all to continue arrand Plains, as they
were before. But if you think these are too little Spots of Ground to
receive a strong Influence from the Sun, take _Ægypt_ for an Instance:
That’s capacious enough, and ’tis overflow’d every Year, and by that
Means made soft and moist to your Mind, as the new Earth when it rises
from under the Abyss. Why then is not _Ægypt_ converted into Mountains,
after the Inundation and Retirement of _Nile_? I do not see any
Qualification wanting, according to the Exceptor’s Hypothesis: _Ægypt_
hath a moist Soil, and a strong Sun, much stronger than the _Alps_ or
_Pyreneans_ have; and yet it continues one of the plainest Countries
upon the Earth. But there is still a greater Instance behind against
this Hypothesis, than any of the former; and that is, of the whole Earth
after the Deluge: When it had been overflow’d a second Time by the
Abyss, upon the Retirement of those Waters it would be much what in the
same Condition, as to Moisture, that it was in the third Day, when it
first became dry Land. Why then should not the same Effect follow again,
by the Heat of the Sun; and as many new Mountains be rais’d upon this
second Draining of the Earth, as upon the first? These are plain and
obvious Instances, and as plainly unanswerable. And the whole Hypothesis
which this Virtuoso hath propos’d concerning the _Origin_ of Mountains,
is such an Heap of Incredibilities, and Things inconsistent one with
another, that I’m afraid I shall be thought to have spent too much Time
in Confutation of it.

In the Conclusion of this Chapter, _p._ 215. he hath an Attempt to prove
that there were Mountains before the Flood, _because there were Metals_;
which are commonly found about the Roots of Mountains. But the Theorist,
he says, _to shun this great Inconvenience, fairly consents to the
abolishing of Metals out of the first State of Nature_. Yet he is hard
put to it, to prove that the Theorist hath any where asserted,
whatsoever he thought, that there were no Metals then. The first
Citation he produces, only recites the Opinion of others, and says, _p._
216. he _thinks they do not want their Reasons_. Of the two other
Citations out of the Preface, the first does not reach home, making no
mention of Metals. And the second is wholly misconstrued, and perverted
to a Sense quite contrary to what the Author intended, or the Context
will bear. But however the Theorist appears doubtful, whether there were
Metals or no in in the first World: And, upon this Doubt, the Exceptor
lays this heavy Charge, _p._ 215. _li._ 24. _Thus the Fidelity of_
Moses_ is assaulted, and another intolerable Affront put upon the HOLY
GHOST: For do not both inform us, that the City_ Enoch _was built, and
the Ark prepared, before the Flood? But how could either be done without
Iron-Tools?_ But does either _Moses_, or the Holy Ghost tell us, that
there were Iron-Tools in building that City, or the Ark? If they do not,
we only affront the Consequence, which the Exceptor draws from the
Words, and not the Authors of them. By what divine Authority does the
Animadverter assert, that there was Iron, or Iron-Tools, in Building
this City, or that Ark? I’m sure Scripture does not mention either, upon
those Occasions. And seeing it mentions only _Gopher Wood_ and _Pitch_
for the Building of the Ark, _Gen._ vi. 14. ’tis a Presumption rather,
that there were no other Materials us’d. And as to the City, ’tis true,
if he fancy the City which _Enoch_ built, to have been like _Paris_, or
_London_, he has Reason to imagine, that they had Iron-Tools to make it.
But suppose it was a Number of Cottages, made of Branches of Trees, of
Osiers and Bulrushes, (and what needed they any other House, when the
Air was so temperate?) or, if you will, of Mud-Walls, and a Roof of
Straw, with a Fence about it to keep out Beasts, there would be no such
Necessity of Iron-Tools. Consider, pray, how long the World was without
knowing the Use of Iron, in several Parts of it, as in the North, and in
_America_: And yet they had Houses and Cities after their Fashion. For
the Northern Countries you may see _Olaus Magnus_, _li._ 12. _c._ 13.
For _America_, _Pet. Martyr. Dec. 1._ But the Exceptor will save you
your Pains, as to the _Indians_, for he says himself, _p._ 250. in
another Place, that they had no Instruments of Iron, when the
_Spaniards_ came amongst them. And if in those late Ages of the World,
they were still without the Use of Iron, or Iron-Tools, we have less
Reason to believe that the Children of _Cain_ had them four or five
thousand Years before.

It is also worthy our Consideration, how many Things must have been
done, before they could come at these Iron-Tools. How came the Children
of _Cain_ to dig into the Earth, I know not to what Depth, to seek for a
Thing they had never heard of before, when it was so difficult to dig
into the Earth without such Tools? More difficult, methinks, than to
build an House without them. But suppose they did this, we know not how;
and, amongst many other Stones, or Earths, found that which we call
Iron-Ore: How did they know the Nature and Use of it? Or, if they
guess’d at that, how did they know the Way and Manner of preparing it,
by Furnaces, Wind-Forges, and Smelting-mills? These would be as hard to
make or build, without Iron Tools, as dwelling Houses. And when they had
got a Lump of Iron, till they knew how to temper it, they could not make
Tools of it still. Unless _Cain_’s Children had an Inspiration from
Heaven, I do not see how they could discover all these Things, in so
short a Time. And this is only to make good what the Theorist said, that
such an Hypothesis _does not want its Reasons_. And as to _Tubal-Cain_,
let those that positively assert that there was no Iron in the first
World, tell us in what Sense that Place is to be understood. For, I
believe, Iron or Brass is not once mention’d in all the Theory.


                               CHAP. XI.


This Chapter is to prove that the _Sea was open_ before the Deluge. ’Tis
something barren of philosophical Arguments, but we will begin with such
as it has, which are taken from this Topick, _That the Fishes could not
live in our Abyss_: _p._ 224. and that for three Reasons. First, because
it was too dark. Secondly, too close; and thirdly, too cold. As for
Coldness, methinks he might have left that out, unless he suppose that
there are no Fish in the frozen Seas, towards the North and South; which
is against all Sense and Experience: For cold Countries abound most in
Fish. And according to Reason, there would be more Danger of too much
Warmth, in those subterraneous Waters, than of too much Cold, in respect
of the Fishes.

Then as to Darkness and Closeness, this minds me of the Saying of
_Maimonides_: _That no Man_ ever would believe, that a Child could live
so many Months, shut up in its Mother’s Belly, if he had never seen the
Experience of it. There’s Closeness and Darkness, in the Highest Degree.
And in Animals, that, as soon as born, cannot live without Respiration.
Whereas Fishes, of all Creatures, have the least need of Respiration, if
they have any. And as for _Darkness_, how many subterraneous Lakes have
we still, wherein Fishes live? And we can scarce suppose the main and
fathomless Ocean to have Light to the Bottom; at least when it is
troubled or tempestuous. How the Eyes of Fish are, or might be, form’d
or conform’d, we cannot tell, but we see they feed and prey on the Night
Time, and take Baits as greedily as on the Day. But it is likely they
were less active and agile in that Abyss, than they are now; their Life
was more sluggish then, and their Motions more slow, _Job_ xxxviii. 8.
as being still in that _Womb_ of Nature that was broke up at the Deluge.
And as to Air, they would have enough for their imperfect way of
breathing in that State. But if they have a more perfect now, which is
still a Question, they might have some Passages in their Body open’d,
(at the Disruption of the Abyss) when they were born into the Light and
free Air, which were not open’d before. As we see in Infants, upon their
Birth, a new Passage is made into their Lungs, and a new Circulation of
the Blood, which before took another Course.

So much for pretended Reasons and Philosophy. The rest of this long
Chapter is spent either in Consequences made from Scripture, or in a
prolix Discourse about Rain. As to Scripture, _p._ 219, 220. he makes
this the first Objection, that, whereas _Adam_ had a Dominion given him
over the Fish of the Sea, it could have no Effect, if they were inclosed
in the Abyss. _Adam_ had no more Dominion given him over the Fish of the
Sea, than over the Fowls of the Air; which he could not come at, or
seize at his Pleasure, unless he could fly into the Air after them.
_Adam_ was made Lord of all Animals upon this Earth, and had a Right to
use them for his Conveniency, when they came into his Power: But I do
not believe that _Adam_ was made stronger than a Lyon, nor could master
the Leviathan, or command him to the Shore. He had a Right, however, and
his Posterity, to dispose of all Creatures for their Use and Service,
whensoever, upon Occasion offered, they fell into their Power.

Next he says, _p._ 225, 226. The Waters were gather’d into one Place,
and a Firmament was made to divide the Waters from the Waters. Well,
allow this, tell us then what was that Firmament? For it is said there,
_Gen._ i. 17. that God set the Sun, Moon, and Stars, in the Firmament.
Therefore you can argue nothing from this, unless you suppose
supercelestial Waters: Which, when you have prov’d, we will give you an
Account of the subcelestial, and of the subterraneous. And here the
Exceptor cites some Things from the Theory, that are not in the second
Edition, and therefore the Theorist is not concern’d to answer them.

Lastly, The Exceptor comes to his long Harangue in Commendation of the
_Clouds_ and of _Rain_: Which takes up a great Part of this Chapter. In
his _Exordium_ he makes this Compliment to the Clouds, p. 234.
_Sometimes they mount up and fly aloft, as if they forgat, or disdain’d
the Meanness of their Origin. Sometimes again they sink and stoop so
low, as if they repented of their former proud Aspirings, and did
remorseful humble Penance for their high Presumption. And though I may
not say they weep to expiate their Arrogance, or kiss the Earth with
bedewed Cheeks, in Token of their Penitence, yet they often prostrate in
the Dust, and sweep the lowest Grounds of all, with their misty foggy
Trains. One while they_, &c. This Harangue about the Clouds and Rain, is
pursued for fourteen or fifteen Pages, and, with Submission to better
Judgments, I take it to be a Country Sermon, about the _Usefulness of
Rain_: And, I believe, whosoever reads it, will, both from its Matter
and Form, be of the same Opinion. I do not speak this in Derogation to
his Sermon, but he would have done better, methinks, to have printed it
in a Pamphlet by it self; there being no Occasion for it in this Theory.

Towards the Conclusion of the Chapter, _p._ 246. he answers an Objection
made by the Theorist against the supposed Islands and Continents in the
first Earth. Namely, _That it would render the Propagation of Mankind
difficult, into those broken Parts of the World_. And the many imperfect
shifting Answers which the Exceptor gives, or conjectures without
Authority, do but confirm the Objection of the Theorist, or make his
Words true, _quod Res esset difficilis explicatu_. Which is all that the
Theorist said upon that Subject.


                               CHAP. XII.


This is a short Chapter, and will be soon dispatch’d. ’Tis to prove that
the _Rainbow was before the Flood_. And notwithstanding that, a good
Sign that there should never be a Flood again. This is to me a Paradox,
but he confirms it by a greater Paradox: For he says, God might as well
(as to Significancy, or Authenticalness) _have appointed the Sun, as the
Rainbow, for a Sign that there never should have been another Flood_. So
that if God had said to _Noah_, I do assure thee there shall never be a
second Deluge, and for a Sign of this, _Behold I set the Sun in the
Firmament_: This would have done as well, he says, as the Rainbow. That
is, in my Judgment, it would have done nothing at all more than the bare
Promise. And if it had done no more than the bare Promise, it was
superfluous. Therefore if the Rainbow was no more than the Sun would
have been, it was a superfluous Sign. They to whom these two Signs are
of equal Significancy and Effect, lie without the Reach of all
Conviction, and I am very willing to indulge them in their own Opinions.

But he says, _p._ 257. _God sometimes has made things to be Signs, that
are common and usual. Thus the Fruit of a Tree growing in Paradise, was
made a Sign of Man’s Immortality._ But how does it appear that this was
a common Tree; or that it was given to _Adam_ as a Sign that he should
be immortal? Neither of these appear from Scripture. Secondly, he says,
2 _Kings_ xiii. 17. _Shooting with Bow and Arrows upon the Ground, was
made a Sign to_ Joash _of his prevailing against the_ Syrians. This was
only a Command to make war against _Syria_, and a Prophecy of Success;
both deliver’d in a symbolical or hieroglyphical Way. The Command was
signify’d by bidding the King shoot an Arrow, which was the Sign of War.
And the Sign of Victory or of divine Assistance, was the Prophet’s
strengthening the King’s Hands to draw the Bow. This is nothing as to a
Sign given in Nature, or from the natural World, in Confirmation of a
divine Promise: Which is the thing we are only to consider.

All the rest of this Chapter is lax Discourse without Proof. And as to
the Significancy of the Rainbow, upon Supposition that it was a new
Appearance; and its Insignificancy upon Supposition that it was an old
Appearance, we have spoken so fully in the Theory it self, _Eng. Theor._
_Book_ 2. _ch._ 5. that it would be needless here to make any longer
Stay upon this Argument.


                              CHAP. XIII.


This Chapter is concerning _Paradise_; but our Author fairly baulks all
the Difficulties in that Doctrine, and contents himself with a few
Generals, which every body knows. The Doctrine of Paradise consists
chiefly of two Parts; the Site or Place of it; and the State or
Properties of it. As to the first, if the Exceptor would have confuted
the Theory, he should have let down the Conclusions that are advanc’d by
the Theory, (_Eng. Theor._ _Book._ 2. _c._ 7.) concerning the Place of
Paradise, which are these; first, the Place of Paradise cannot be
determin’d by Scripture only. Neither the Word _Mekeddem_, (_Gen._ ii.
8.) nor the four Rivers mentioned there, make the Place of it
defineable. Secondly, The Place of Paradise cannot be determin’d by the
Theory. Seeing then neither Scripture, nor Reason determine the Place of
Paradise, if we will determine it, it must be by Antiquity. And if we
appeal to Antiquity in this Case, we shall find, First, That it was not
in _Mesopotamia_. Secondly, That according to the Plurality of Votes,
both amongst the Heathen and Christian Authors, it was plac’d in the
other Hemisphere. And this is all the Theory says upon that Point. As
you may see, _Eng. Theor_ _Book_ 2. _ch._ 7. and _Lat. Theor._ _Edit._
2. _p._ 194. and _p._ 214, 215. Wherefore if the Animadverter would
undertake to confute the Theory in this Point, he should have confuted
those four Particulars. But he slips over these, _p._ 265. and gives us
only a Paraphrase upon Verses in the second and third _Chapters_ of
_Genesis_, which says little to this Purpose, and yet more than it
proves.

In the second Place, as to the State and Properties of Paradise, or the
ante-diluvian World; _the Longevity of the Ante-diluvians_ is the Thing
he insists upon. But this he handles so loosely, _p._ 273. that in the
Conclusion of his Discourse, one cannot tell whether he affirms it, or
denies it. This sceptical Humour of the Exceptor hath been taken notice
of before, and ’tis continued in this Chapter, where there is little or
nothing positively determin’d. The Theorist, on the contrary, expressly
affirms the Longevity of the Ante-diluvians, and gives these Reasons for
his Assertion. First, Because all the Lives, and all the Generations
recorded in Scripture, before the Flood, from Father to Son, in a Line
of sixteen hundred Years, are longeval: Of six, seven, eight, nine
hundred Years a-piece. Secondly, Antiquity, both _Greek_ and _Barbarian_
have attested the same thing, and recorded the Tradition; see the Table
of both. Thirdly, The Generations recorded in Scripture after the Flood,
as they exceed the Term of succeeding Ages, _Eng. Theor._ _p._ 204. so
they decline by degrees from the ante-diluvian Longevity. Lastly,
_Jacob_ complains of the Shortness of his Life, and lowness of his Days,
in Comparison of his Forefathers, when he had liv’d one hundred and
thirty Years; _Gen._ xlvii. 9. which had been a groundless Complaint, if
his Ancestors had not lived much longer.

These two last Reasons the Exceptor has not thought fit to take notice
of. And, in Answer to the two former, he hath only the usual
Subterfuges: As, that the long Lives of the ante-diluvian Patriarchs was
a Thing extraordinary and providential, confin’d to their Persons; not
of a general Extent, nor according to the Course of Nature. But how does
this appear? It must be made out, either by Scripture or Reason.
Scripture makes no Distinction, nor Exception of Persons in this Case;
all, whereof it hath left any Account, as to Term of Life, are declar’d
to have liv’d several hundred of Years. And why should we not conclude
the same Thing concerning the rest? Then as to Reason, you cannot
suppose Longevity, in that World, against Reason or Nature, unless you
first suppose the Form and Constitution of that World to have been the
same with the present: Which is to beg the Question. Admitting that Form
and Constitution of the first Heavens and Earth, which the Theory hath
given, Longevity will be a natural Consequence of it. _Theor._ _Book_ 2.
_ch._ 3, _&_ 4. And having such a Course of Nature laid before us, as
agrees with the Reports of Scripture, and with general Tradition, why
should we quit that, to comply with an imaginary Presumption; that these
were miraculously preserv’d, and all the rest were short-liv’d? I know
he pretends, p. 277. we may as well conclude all Men were Giants in
those Days, because _Moses_ says, _There were Giants upon the Earth in
those Days_, Gen. vi. 4. as conclude that all Men were long liv’d in
those Days, because _Moses_ mentions some that were so. There had been
some Pretence for this, if _Moses_ had made a Distinction of two Races
of Men in the first World, long Livers and short Livers; as he hath
distinguish’d the Giant from the common Race of Mankind: Or, as he hath
said in one Case, _There were Giants on the Earth in those Days_; so if
he had said in the other, _There were long Livers upon the Earth in
those Days_, and upon that, had given us a List of the long-liv’d
Patriarchs: This indeed would have made the Cases pretty parallel. But,
on the contrary, _Moses_ makes no such Distinction of long-living and
short-living Races, before the Flood; nor yet notes it as a Mark of
divine Favour, or extraordinary Benediction upon those Persons that
liv’d so long. Therefore, not to suppose it general to Mankind at that
Time, is a groundless Restriction, which is neither founded upon
Scripture nor Reason.

As to the second Argument for ante-diluvian Longevity, taken from
Tradition and the Testimony of the Antients, he objects, _p._ 276, 277.
that _Josephus_ does not seem to be firm in that Opinion himself. But
what then? The Theorist lays no Stress upon _Josephus_’s single Opinion,
but refers to the Testimonies of those Authors, whether _Greeks_, or
such as have given on Account of the _Ægyptian_, _Chaldean_, and
_Phœnician_ Antiquities: Which are call’d in by _Josephus_, as Witnesses
of this Truth or Tradition, concerning the long Lives of the first Men.
And at last, the Exceptor seems content, this Tradition should be
admitted, _p._ 278. seeing the _Authors are too many, or too
considerable, to have their Testimonies question’d or rejected_. But
then he will make a further Question, _Why_ there should not also be a
Tradition concerning the _perpetual Equinox_, or _perpetual Spring_,
upon which this Longevity depended? But this Question is fully answer’d,
and the Tradition fully made out before, in the eighth Chapter, which I
need not here repeat. In like manner, all the secondary Questions, which
he then mentions, depending upon, and being included in this first,
receive their Resolution from it. For when a perpetual Equinox is once
truly stated, there is no Difficulty concerning the rest.

After these Contests about Traditions, he hath one or two _Reasons_
against this _ante-diluvian Longevity_, p. 279, 280. First, because the
Earth, by this Means, would have been over-stock’d with People before
the Time of the Deluge. Secondly, They should all have been of the same
Longevity before the Flood. Neither of these, me-thinks, have any
Strength in them. As to the first, That Earth was much more capacious
than this is, where the Sea takes away half of its Surface, and renders
it uninhabitable. And whereas he suggests, as a Recompence, _ibid._
_That Mountains_ have more Surface and Capacity than Plains; that’s
true, but they are also less habitable, by Reason of their Barrenness
and Ruggedness. Who can believe that there are as many People in
_Wales_, as in other Parts of _England_, upon the same Compass of level
Ground? Or no more in _Holland_, than upon a like Number of Acres upon
the _Alps_ or _Pyreneans_? There would be room enough for twice as many
People as there are in the World, and twice as many Animals, if there
was Food enough to nourish them. But here I have two things to complain
of, as foul Play: First, the Exceptor cites the Theory partially.
Secondly, he does not mark the Place whence he takes that Citation; as
if it was on purpose to hide his Partiality. The Words he cites are
these: _If we allow the first Couple, at the end of one hundred Years,
or of the first Century, to have left ten Pair of Breeders, which is an
easy Supposition, there would arise from these in fifteen hundred Years,
a greater Number than the Earth was capable of; allowing every Pair to
multiply in the same decuple Proportion the first Pair did_, Eng. Theor.
p. 32. Here the Exceptor stops, and makes this Inference; that upon an
_easy Supposition_, which the Theorist makes and allows, the Earth would
have been over-stock’d in fifteen hundred Years. This is an _easy
Supposition_ for the _first Century_, as the Theorist put it; but it
would be a very uneasy one for the following Centuries, when they came
to be at any considerable Distance from the Beginning. And therefore the
Theorist tells you, in that very Page, _The same Measure cannot run
equally through all the Ages._ And in his Calculation you see, after the
first Century, he hath taken only a _quadruple Proportion for the
Increase of Mankind_. As judging that a _moderate and reasonable Measure
betwixt the highest and the lowest_. This the Exceptor might easily have
observ’d, _ibid._ and as easily avoided this Misapplication of the Words
of the Theorist.

His second Reason against the ante-diluvian Longevity is slighter than
the first, _p._ 280. For he pretends that all Ante-diluvians, upon that
Supposition, should have been equally long-liv’d. You may as well say,
that all the Children of the same Parents, and that live in the same
Place, should now be equally long-liv’d; the external World being the
same to them all. But, besides Accidents, their _Stamina_ and
Constitutions might then be of a different Strength, as well as now;
tho’ they were born of the same Parents, and liv’d in the same Air.
Lastly, he moves a Difficulty about the Multiplication of Animals in the
first World, _p._ 281. that they would have been too numerous before the
Flood. I can say nothing to that, nor he neither, upon good Grounds:
Unless we knew what Species of Animals were then made, and in what
Degrees they multiplied. The Theorist always supposes a divine
Providence to superintend, proportion, and determine, both the Number
and Food of Animals upon the Earth; suitably to the Constitution and
Circumstances of every World. And seeing that Earth was no less under
the Care and Direction of Providence, than the present, we may conclude
that due Measures were taken for adjusting the Numbers and Food of
Animals in such manner, as neither to be a Burden to one another, nor to
Man.


                               CHAP. XIV.


This Chapter is against the Explication of the Deluge by the
_Dissolution of the Earth_. That Dissolution, as is pretended, being
unfit or insufficient to produce such an Effect. And to prove this, the
Ante-theorist gives us five Arguments, whereof the first is this; _p._
285. _Moses_ having left us an accurate Description of Paradise,
_according to the proper Rules of Topography_, such a Description would
have been improper and insufficient to determine the Place of Paradise,
and consequently useless, if the Earth had been dissolv’d; and by that
means the Bounds of those Countries, and the Channels of those Rivers,
broken and chang’d. This Objection, I’m afraid, will fall heavier upon
_Moses_, or upon the Exceptor himself, than upon the Theorist. However,
one would have expected that the Exceptor should have determin’d here
the Place of Paradise in virtue of that Description. So learned and
sagacious a Person, having before him an exact Draught of Paradise,
_according to the proper Rules of Topography_, could not fail to lay his
Finger upon the very Spot of Ground where it stood. Yet I do not find
that he has ventur’d to determine the Place of Paradise, either in this
Chapter, or in the preceding: Which gives me a great Suspicion, that he
was not satisfy’d where it stood, notwithstanding the _Mosaical_
Topography. Now if it cannot be understood or determin’d by that
Topography, one of these two things must be allow’d, either that the
Description was insufficient and ineffectual; or that there has been
some great Change in the Earth, whereby the Marks of it are destroy’d;
namely, the Bounds of Countries, and the Courses of the the Rivers. If
he take the second of these Answers, he joins with the Theorist. If the
first, he reflects, according to his way of arguing, upon the Honour of
_Moses_, or confutes himself.

But here is still a further Charge, _p._ 286. _Moses_’s Description of
Paradise would have been _told_ (which he notes for _horrid Blasphemy_)
if the Earth was broken at the Deluge: For then those Rivers, by which
_Moses_ describes Paradise, could not have been before the Flood. But
why so, I pray? The Theorist supposes Rivers before the Flood, in great
Plenty; and why not like to these? And if their Channels were very much
chang’d by the Flood, that’s no more than what good Interpreters
suppose. Being unable, upon any other Submission, to give an Account why
it is so hard (notwithstanding _Moses_’s Description) to determine the
Place of Paradise. Now where is the _Blasphemy_ of this? _Ibid._ _Horrid
Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost?_ A rude and injudicious Defence of
Scripture, by Railing and ill Language, is the true Way to lessen and
disparage it: Especially when we make our own Consequences to be of the
same Authority with the Word of God; and whatsoever is against them,
must be charg’d with Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. Is it not a
strange Thing, that the Dissolution of the Earth should be made
Blasphemy, when the Prophets and inspir’d Authors speak so often of the
_Disruptions_, _Fractions_, _Concussions_, and _Subversions_ of the
Earth? See _Review_, _p._ 380, _&c._ And that very Expression, that the
_Earth is dissolv’d_, is a Scripture Expression, (_Psal._ lxxv. 3.
_Isai._ xxiv. 19. _Amos_ ix. 5) which, methinks, might have been enough
to have protected it from the Imputation of Blasphemy. But there is
nothing safe against blind Zeal, and opinionative Ignorance; which, by
how much they find themselves weaker in Reasons, by so much they become
more violent in Passions.

But to return to the Objection; upon the whole Matter, he casts the
Burden of the Charge upon _Moses_ himself, as we noted before: For take
whether Hypothesis you will, that the Earth was, or was not broken, the
Question still returns, if the Mosaical Topography was exact and
sufficient, why can we not yet find out the Situation of Paradise? ’Tis
now above three thousand Years since _Moses_ died, and Men have been
curious and very inquisitive in all Ages, to find out the Place of
Paradise; but it is not found out to this Day to any Satisfaction: So
that, methinks, upon the whole, the Theory, which supposeth the Earth
very much chang’d, makes the fairest Apology both for _Moses_ and
Mankind, in this Particular. But to proceed to his second Argument.

Secondly, says the Exceptor, p. 288. _The Dissolution of the Earth could
not be the Cause of the general Flood, because it would have utterly
destroy’d_ Noah_’s Ark, and all that were in it_. I thought the Theorist
had effectually prevented this Objection, by putting the Ark under the
Conduct of its Guardian Angels, and of a miraculous Providence; _Eng.
Theor._ _p._ 147. These are his Words: _I think it had been impossible
for the Ark to have liv’d upon the raging Abyss, or for_ Noah _and his
Family to have been preserv’d, if there had not been a miraculous Hand
of Providence to take Care of them._ Now, either the Exceptor did not
take notice of this Passage in the Theory, or he does not allow that a
miraculous Hand was sufficient to preserve the Ark; or thirdly, he made
an Objection, which he knew himself to be impertinent. And, I confess, I
am inclinable to think the last is true: For as to the first, he
confesses (_p._ 354.) that the _Theory represents the Ark, with its
Guardian Angels about it, in the Extremity of the Flood_. And as to the
second, he himself makes use of a miraculous Power to preserve the Ark
upon his Hypothesis; in Answer to the eighth Objection, _p._ 351, 352,
_&c._ Why then may not we make use of the same Power, and with the same
Effect? It remains therefore, that he was conscious to himself that he
made this Objection to no purpose.

But that is not all: He has also us’d foul Play in his Citation: For
whereas the great Danger of the Ark would be at the first Fall of the
Earth, or the Disruption of the Abyss; the Theorist, he says, to prevent
this, makes the Ark to be a-float by the Rains, before the Abyss was
broken. But is that all the Theorist says in that Place? Does he not
assign another Way how the Ark might be a-float? Namely, in a River, or
in a Dock. These are the Words of the Theory, _p._ 133, 134. _So as the
Ark, if it could not float upon these Rain-Waters, at least taking the
Advantage of a River, or of a Dock or Cistern made to receive them, it
might be a-float before the Abyss was broken open._ And these Words
being in the same Place whence he makes his Citation, it must be a
wilful Dissimulation not to take notice of them. But he saw they would
have taken off the Edge of his Objection, and therefore thought fit not
to touch upon them. But after all, there is no Necessity that the Ark
should be a-float before the Earth broke: Those Things, were premis’d in
the Theory, only to soften the Way to Men that are of hard Belief in
such extraordinary Matters: For the Angels (whose Ministry we openly
own, upon these grand Occasions) could as easily have held the Ark
a-float, in the Air, as on the Water. And the Ark, being an Emblem of
the Church, God certainly did _give his Angels Charge over it; that they
should bear it up in their Hands, that it might not be dash’d against a
Stone_. And this having been more than once profess’d by the Theorist,
we must again conclude this Objection superfluous and useless.

The third Objection is this. If the Earth had been thus dissolv’d, _p._
289. _The present Earth would have been, in likelihood of another
Figure, than what now it bears._ These are his Words; but I suppose he
means, that it would have been of another Form, as to Sea and Land. And
the Reason he gives is this: Because, says he, it would have broke first
in the Equator, and consequently that Part falling down first, would
have been swallowed up by the Waters, and become all Sea. Whereas we
find, that under the Equator that then was (which he supposeth (_ibid._)
the present Ecliptick) _the dry Ground is of most spacious Extent and
Continuity_. We need not examine his Account of Sea and Land, because it
proceeds upon a false Supposition, (_See_ p. 27. _before_.) He relapses
here into his former astronomical Error, or to his first adds a second;
_viz._ That the Earth, when it chang’d its Situation, chang’d its Poles
and Circles. This is a great Mistake; the Change of Position in Respect
of the Heavens, did not change the Places of its Circles in Respect to
its own Globe. As when you change a Sphere or a Globe out of a _right
Situation_ into an _oblique_, the Circles do not change their Places, as
to that Sphere or Globe; but have only another Position to the Heavens.
The Earth’s Ecliptick runs thorough the same Places it did before; and
the equinoctial Regions of that Earth were the same with the equinoctial
Regions of this, only bear another Posture to the Heavens and the Sun.
These Circles have not chang’d Places with one another, as he imagines;
and which is worse, would father this imagination upon the Theory, in
these Words, _Under the Ecliptick (which, in the present Situation of
the Earth, (ACCORDING TO THE THEORY) was its Equinoctial, and divided
the Globe into two Hemispheres, as the Equator does now) the dry
Ground_, &c. He that affirms this, with Respect to the Earth, neither
understands the _Theory, nor the Doctrine of the Sphere_. But let’s
press no further upon a Mistake.

The fourth Objection is this; _p._ 290. That such a Dissolution of the
Earth, would have caus’d great Barrenness after the Flood: Partly by
turning up some dry and unfruitful Parts of the Earth; and partly by the
Soil and Filth that would be left upon its Surface. As to the first, I
willingly allow, that some of the interior and barren Parts of the Earth
might be turn’d up; as we now see in mountainous and wild Countries; but
this rather confirms the Theory, than weakens it. But as to the second,
that the Filth and Soil would have made the Earth more barren, I cannot
allow that. For good Husbandmen overflow their Grounds, to make their
Crop more rich. And ’tis generally suppos’d, that the Inundation of
_Nile_, and the Mud it leaves behind it, makes _Ægypt_ more fruitful.
Besides, this Part of the Objection lies against the common Explication
of the Deluge, as well as against that which is given by the Theory. For
if you suppose an universal Deluge, let it come from what Causes you
please, it must overflow all the Earth, and leave Mud and Slime and
Filth upon the Surface of it: And consequently cause Barrenness,
according to this Argumentation.

He adds another Consideration under this Head, _p._ 292. namely, that if
the Earth had been dissolv’d in this manner, _All the Buildings erected
before the Flood, would have been shaken down, or else overwhelm’d. Yet
we read of some that outstood the Flood, and were not demolish’d. Such
were the Pillars of_ Seth, _and the Cities_ Henochia _and_ Joppa. As to
_Seth_’s Pillars, they are generally accounted fabulous; and I perceive
the Exceptor will not vouch for them: For he concludes, (_p._ 295) _I
know the very Being is question’d of_ Seth_’s Pillars_, &c. If he will
not defend them, why should I take the Pains to confute them? I do not
love to play with a Man, that will put nothing to the Stake; that will
have his Chance to win, but can lose nothing, because he stakes nothing.
Then as to the City _Henochia_, it hath no Authority, but that of
_Annius Viterbiensis_, and his _Berosus_: A Book generally exploded, as
fictitious. Lastly, As to _Joppa_, the Authority indeed is better, tho’
still uncertain. But however, suppose the Ruins of one Town remain’d
after the Flood, does this prove that the Earth was not dissolv’d? I do
not doubt, but there were several Tracts of the Earth, much greater than
that Town, that were not broken all to Pieces by their Fall. But you and
your _English_ Historian, are mistaken, if you suppose the Altars and
Inscriptions mention’d by _Mela_, to have been ante-diluvian Altars and
Inscriptions: Unless you will make the Fable of _Perseus_ and
_Andromeda_, and the _Sea-Monster_, to have been an ante-diluvian Fable.
Neither hath your Historian been lucky in translating those Words of
_Mela_, _cum religione plurima, with the Grounds and Principles of their
Religion_, which signify only, _with a religious Care of Superstition_.
But to leave Fables, and proceed:

His last Argument against the Dissolution is this, _p._ 296. Had the
Dissolution of the Earth been the Cause of the Deluge, _It would have
made God’s Covenant with_ Noah, _a very vain and trifling Thing_. So
much is true, That the Deluge, in the course of Nature, will not return
again in the same Way. But unless God prevent it, it both may, and will
return in another Way. That is, if the World continue long enough, the
Mountains will wear and sink, and the Waters in Proportion rise, and
overflow the whole Earth; as is plainly shewn, by a parallel Case, in
the _first Book_ of the _Theory_, _ch._ iv. Besides, God might, when he
pleas’d, by an extraordinary Power, and for the Sins of Men, bring
another Deluge upon the World. And that is the Thing which _Noah_ seems
to have fear’d, and which God, by his Covenant, secur’d him against.
For, as the Exceptor hath said himself, in answering an harder
Objection, (p. 152.) _When God assigned to the Waters the Place of their
Abode, he did not intend to fortify them in it against his own
Omnipotence, or to divest himself of his Soveraign Prerogative of
calling them forth when he pleased._ This being allowed, with what we
said before, that Covenant was not vain nor trifling, either in Respect
of an ordinary or extraordinary Providence.

Thus we have done with all the Exceptions against the Theory: For the
two next Chapters are concerning a new Hypothesis of his own; and the
last of all excepts not against the Truth of the Theory, but the
Certainty of it. In Reflection upon this whole Matter, give me leave to
declare two Things: First, That I have not knowingly omitted any
Objection that I thought of moment: Secondly, That I have not, from
these Exceptions, found Reason to change any Part of the Theory, nor to
alter my Opinion, as to any Particular in it. No doubt there are several
Texts of Scripture, which, understood according to the Letter in a
vulgar Way, stand cross, both to this, and other natural Theories. And a
Child, that had read the first Chapters of _Genesis_, might have
observ’d this as well as the Exceptor; but could not have loaded his
Charge with so much Bitterness. Some Men, they say, though of no great
Valour, yet will fight excellently well behind a Wall. The Exceptor,
behind a Text of Scripture, is very fierce and rugged: But in the open
Field of Reason and Philosophy, he’s gentle and tractable. _Eng. Theor._
_Book_ 2. _c._ 9. _at the End._ The Theorist had declar’d his
Intentions, and oblig’d himself, to give a full Account of _Moses_ his
_Cosmopœia_, or _six Day’s Creation_; but did not think it proper to be
done in the vulgar Language, nor before the whole Theory was compleated.
This might have spared much of the Exceptor’s Pains; but till that
Account be given, if the Exceptor thinks fit to continue his
Animadversions, and go through the two last Books, as he hath done the
two first, it will not be unacceptable to the Theorist; provided it be
done with Sincerity, in reciting the Words, and representing the Sense
of the Author.


                               CHAP. XV.


In this Chapter the Ante-theorist lays down a new Hypothesis for the
Explication of the Deluge, _p._ 299. And the War is chang’d, on his
Side, from offensive, to defensive. ’Tis but fair that he should lie
down in his Turn; and if some Blows smart a little, he must not
complain, because he begun the Sport. But let’s try his Hypothesis,
without any further Ceremony, _p._ 299, 300. The first Proposition laid
down for the establishing of it, is this: _That the Flood was but
fifteen Cubits high, above the ordinary Level of the Earth._ This is an
unmerciful Paradox, and a very unlucky Beginning; for under what Notion
must this Proportion be received? As a _Postulatum_, or as a
_Conclusion_? If it be a _Postulatum_, it must be clear from its own
Light, or acknowledg’d by general Consent. It cannot pretend to be clear
from its own Light, because it is matter of Fact, which is not known,
but by Testimony. Neither is it generally acknowleg’d; for the general
Opinion is, that the Waters covered the Tops of the Mountains; nay, that
they were fifteen Cubits higher than the Tops of the Mountains. And this
he confesses himself, in these Words, p. 300. _We shall find there is a
great Mistake in the common Hypothesis, touching their Depth_: Namely,
of the Waters. _For whereas they have been supposed to be fifteen Cubits
higher than the highest Mountains: They were indeed but fifteen Cubits
high in all, above the Surface of the Earth._ And this Opinion, or
Doctrine, he calls, _p._ 329. _lin._ 19. _c._ 31. _The general standing
Hypothesis: The usual Hypothesis_: _p._ 339. _lin._ 18. _The usual Sense
they have put upon the Sacred Story._ It must not therefore be made a
_Postulatum_, that such an Hypothesis is false, but the Falsity of it
must be demonstrated by good Proofs. Now I do not find that this new
Hypothesis, of a _fifteen Cubit Deluge_, offers at any more than one
single Proof, namely, from _Gen._ vii. 20. But before we proceed to the
Examination of that, give me leave to note one or two Things, wherein
the new Theorist seems to be inconsistent with himself, or with good
Sense.

At his Entrance upon this new Hypothesis, he hath these Words, (_p._
300.) _Not that I will be bound to defend what I say, as true and real_,
&c. But why then does he trouble himself or the World, with an
Hypothesis, which he does not believe to be _true_ and _real_? Or, if he
does believe it to be so, why will he not defend it? For we ought to
defend Truth. But he says moreover, (_p._ 302. _lin._ 19.) _Our
Supposition stands supported by Divine Authority; as being founded upon
Scripture. Which tells us, as plainly as it can speak, that the Waters
prevailed but fifteen Cubits upon the Earth._ If his Hypothesis be
founded upon Scripture; and upon Scripture, _as plainly as it can
speak_, why will not he defend it as _true_ and _real_? For to be
supported by Scripture, and by plain Scripture, is as much as we can
alledge for the Articles of our Faith; which every one surely is bound
to defend.

But this is not all the Difficulty we meet with. The whole Period which
we quoted, runs thus: _Not that I will be bound to defend what I say, as
true or real; any more than to believe (what I cannot well endure to
speak) that the Church of God has ever gone on in an irrational way of
explaining the Deluge: Which yet the must needs have done, if there be
no other rational Method of explaining it, and no other intelligible
Causes of it, than what the Theory has propos’d._ Now for the Word
_Theory_, put the Word _Exceptor_, or _Exceptor’s Hypothesis_, and see
if this Charge, _that the Church of God has ever gone on in an
irrational way of explaining the Deluge_, does not fall as much upon the
Exceptor’s new Hypothesis, as upon the Theory. If the Church Hypothesis
was rational, what need he have invented a new one? Why does he not
propose that Hypothesis, and defend it? I’m afraid it will be found that
he does not only contradict the Church Hypothesis, but reject it as
mistaken and irrational. For what is the Church Hypothesis, but the
_common Hypothesis_? (_p._ 300. _l._ 24.) The _general standing_
Hypothesis; the _usual_ Hypothesis; the _usual Sense they put upon the
sacred Story_; all these he rejects and disputes against, as you may see
in the Places fore-cited: And also he calls them, _p._ 312. _ult._ such
_Inventions_, as _have been_, and _justly may be disgustful, not only to
nice and squeamish, but to the best and soundest philosophick
Judgments_. And _p._ 319. he says, by his Hypothesis, _We are excused
from running to those Causes or Methods, which seem unreasonable to
some, and unintelligible to others, and unsatisfactory to most._ And to
name no more, he says, _p._ 330. the ordinary Supposition, that the
Mountains were cover’d with Water in the Deluge, brings on a _Necessity
of setting up a new Hypothesis for explaining the Flood_. Now, whose
Methods, Inventions, and Suppositions are these, which he reflects upon?
Are they not the commonly receiv’d Methods and Suppositions? ’Tis plain,
most of those which he mentions, (_p._ 310, 311, 313, 314, 318.) are not
the Theorist’s: For the Theorist had rejected before, (_Eng. Theor._
_ch._ 2, and 3.) those very Methods and Inventions, which the Exceptor
rejects now; and so far he justifies the Theory[18]: These Reflections
therefore must fall upon some other Hypothesis; and what Hypothesis is
that, if it be not the Church Hypothesis? To conclude, I argue thus, in
short, to shew the Exceptor inconsistent with himself in this
Particular. The Church Way of explaining the Deluge, is either
_rational_, or _irrational_. If he say it is _rational_, why does he
desert it, and invent a new one? And if he says it is _irrational_, then
that dreadful Thing, which _he cannot well endure to speak, that the
Church of God has ever gone on in an irrational Way of explaining the
Deluge_, falls flat upon himself.

Thus much in general, for his Introduction. We proceed now to examine
particularly his new Hypothesis: Which, as we told you before, consists
chiefly in this, _That the Waters of the Deluge were but fifteen Cubits
higher than the common unmountainous Surface of the Earth._ _This_,
which seems so odd and extravagant, he says, _p._ 301. is the
_Foundation_ of the Hypothesis. And, which is still more surprizing, he
says this Depth, or rather Shallowness of the Waters of the Deluge, is
told us by Scripture, _as plainly as it can speak_, p. 302. l. 23. This
must needs raise our Curiosity, to see that Place of Scripture, which
has been overlook’d by all the Learned hitherto. Well, ’tis _Gen._ vii.
20. in these words, _Fifteen Cubits upwards did the Waters prevail._
This, methinks, is somewhat general; for the Basis of these _fifteen
Cubits_ not express’d in these Words. But why does our Author stop in
the middle of a Verse? Why does he not transcribe the whole Verse; for
the last Part of it is as good Scripture as the first? And that says
plainly, that the _Mountains were cover’d with the Waters_. The whole
Verse runs thus: _Fifteen Cubits upwards did the Waters prevail; AND THE
MOUNTAINS WERE COVERED._ Now, if the Basis of these fifteen Cubits was
the common Surface, or plain Level of the Earth, as this new Hypothesis
will have it; how could fifteen Cubits, from that Basis, reach to the
Tops of the Mountains? Are the highest Mountains but fifteen Cubits
higher than the common Surface of the Earth? 1 _Sam._ xvii. 4. _Goliah_
was six Cubits and a Span high; so _Pic Tenariff_ would not be thrice as
high as _Goliah_: Yet _David_ flung a Stone up to his Forehead. Take
what Cubit you please, sacred or common, it does not amount to two Foot.
So the Height of the greatest Mountains, from Bottom to Top, must not be
thirty Foot, or ten Paces, according to this new Hypothesis. Who ever
measured Mountains at this Rate? The modern Mathematicians allow for
their Height a Mile perpendicular, upon a moderate Computation; and that
makes three thousand Foot: How then could Waters that were not thirty
Foot high, cover Mountains that were three thousand Foot high? That the
highest Mountains of the Earth were cover’d with the Waters, you may see
express’d more fully in the precedent Verse, _Gen._ vii. 19. _And the
Waters prevailed exceedingly upon the Earth. And all the high Hills that
were under the whole Heavens were cover’d._ There can scarce be Words
more plain and comprehensive. The Exceptor says, the Scripture tells us,
as _plainly as it can speak_, that the Waters were but fifteen Cubits
high from the common Surface of the Earth: And I say, the Scripture
tells us as _plainly as it can speak_, That _all the high Hills under
the whole Heaven were covered with Water_. And it must be a strange sort
of Geometry, that makes fifteen Cubits of Water reach to the Top of the
highest Hills. Lastly, the same History of _Moses_ says, the Tops of the
Mountains were discover’d, when the Waters begun to decrease, _Gen._
viii. 5. Is not that a plain Demonstration that they were cover’d
before, and cover’d with those Waters?

We may therefore safely conclude two Things: First, that this new
Hypothesis, besides all other Faults, is contrary to the general
Exposition of the Text of _Moses_[19]. Secondly, that it is contrary to
the general receiv’d Doctrine of the Deluge. And if he has deliver’d a
Doctrine, contrary to the two, methinks it should be hard for him to
maintain his Ground, and not pronounce, at the same Time, what he dreads
so much to speak, _That the Church of God has ever gone on in an
irrational Way of explaining the Deluge_. But let’s reflect a little
upon this fifteen-cubit Deluge; to see what Figure it would make, or
what Execution it would do upon Mankind, and upon other Creatures. If
you will not believe _Moses_ as to the overflowing of the Mountains, at
least I hope you will believe him, as to the universal Destruction made
by the Deluge. Hear his Words, _Gen._ vii. 21, 22, 23. we’ll take only
the last Verse, which is this, _And every living Substance was
destroyed, which was upon the Face of the Ground, both Man and Cattle,
and creeping Things, and the Fowl of the Heavens; and they were
destroyed from the Earth; and_ Noah _only remained alive, and they that
were with him in the Ark_. Now I would gladly know, how this could be
verified in a fifteen-cubit Deluge? The Birds would naturally fly to the
Tops of Trees, when the Ground was wet; and the Beasts would retire, by
Degrees, to the Mountains and higher Parts of the Earth, as the lower
begun to be overflow’d: And if no Waters could reach them there, how
were they all destroy’d, while they had so many Sanctuaries and Places
of Refuge?

Or if you suppose some of these Creatures had not Wit enough to save
themselves, (though their Wit and Instincts lie chiefly in that) at
least Mankind would not be so stupid; when Men see the Waters begin to
rise, they could not fail to retire into Mountains: And tho’ the upper
Stories of their Houses might be sufficient to save them from fifteen
Cubits of Water; yet if Fear made them think themselves not secure
there, whither could it drive them, but still into higher Places? And an
House seated upon an Eminency, or a Castle upon a Rock, would be always
a safe Retreat from this diminutive Deluge. I speak all this upon the
Suppositions of the Exceptor, _p._ 215, 216, 292, _&c._ who allows, not
only Mountains and Rocks, but also Castles and Cities before the Deluge,
built of good Timber, and Stone, and Iron, and such substantial
Materials. But how, in such a Case, and in such a State of Things, all
Mankind (except _Noah_ and his Family) should be destroy’d by fifteen
Cubits of Water, is a Lump of Incredibilities, too hard and big for me
to swallow.

But there is still another Difficulty, that we have not mention’d: As
those that were upon the Land might easily save themselves from Ruin, so
those that were upon the Sea in Ships, would never come in Danger. For
what would it signify to them, if the Sea was made a few Fathoms deeper,
by these new Waters? It would bear their Vessels as well as it did
before, and would be no more to them than a Spring-Tide. And lastly, how
shall we justify the Divine Wisdom, which gave such punctual Orders, for
the Building of an Ark, to save _Noah_, and a Set of Creatures for a new
World, when there were so many more easy and obvious Ways to preserve
them without that Trouble?

These Objections, in my Opinion, are so plain and full, that it is not
needful to add any more: Nor to answer such Evasions as the new Theorist
attempts to make to some of them. As, for Instance, to that plain
Objection from _Moses_’s Words, _p._ 330. that _the Mountains were
covered with the Waters_; he says, first, that it is a _Synecdoche_,
where the Whole is put for a Part: Or, secondly, ’tis an _Hyperbole_,
where more is said than understood: Or, thirdly, ’tis a _poetical
History:_ Or, lastly, if none of these will do, by the _Tops_ of the
Mountains is to be understood the _Bottoms_ of the Mountains, _p._ 331,
333. and that cures all. The Truth is, he has taken a great deal of
Pains in the next Chapter, to cure an incurable Hypothesis. We will give
you but one Instance more: ’Tis about the _Appearance of the Tops of the
Mountains at the Decrease of the Deluge_; which argue strongly that they
were cover’d in the Deluge. But take it in his own Words, with the
Answer, _p._ 337. _It is recorded_, Gen. viii. 5. _that the Waters
decreased continually until the tenth Month, and on the first Day of the
Month WERE THE TOPS OF THE MOUNTAINS SEEN. Now if the Mountains had not
been quite under Water, and so invisible for the Time they were
overwhelmed, how could they be said to become visible again, or to be
seen upon the Floods going off?_ This is a plain and bold Objection: And
after two Answers to it, which he seems to distrust, his third and last
is this, _p._ 339. _If these two Considerations will not satisfy, we
must carry on the Enquiry a little farther, and seek for a third. And
truly some one or other must needs be found out.—Thirdly, therefore we
consider, that the Tops of the Mountains may be said to be seen at the
Time mentioned, upon account of their EMERGENCY OUT OF DARKNESS, NOT OUT
OF WATERS._ This is his final Answer. The Tops of the Mountains, at the
Decrease of the Deluge, were seen; not that they were covered before
with Water, says he, but with Darkness. Where finds he this Account:
’Tis neither in the Text, nor in Reason. If it was always so dark, and
the Tops of the Mountains and Rocks naked and prominent every where, how
could the Ark avoid them in that Darkness? Moreover, if the Deluge was
made in that gentle way that he supposes, I see no Reason to imagine
that there would be Darkness, after the forty Days Rain. For these Rains
being fallen, and all the Vapours and Clouds of the Air discharg’d,
methinks there should have ensued an extraordinary Clearness of the Air,
as we often see after rainy Seasons. Well, ’tis true: But the Rains he
supposes were no sooner fallen, but the Sun retracted them again in
Vapours, with that Force and Swiftness, that it kept the Air in
perpetual Darkness. Thus he says afterwards, _p._ 341. He’s mightily
beholden to the Sun, upon many Accounts; and the Sun is no less beholden
to him; for he gave him a miraculous Power to raise Mountains, and draw
up Waters. ’Tis well the Sun did not presently fall to his old Work
again, of raising Mountains out of this moist Earth, as the Exceptor
says he did, when the Earth was first drain’d. _See Chap._ 10. That he
contented himself to suck up the Waters only, and let the Earth alone:
We are not a little beholden to him for this. For he seems to have had
the same Power and Opportunity, at the Decrease of the Deluge, of making
new Ravages upon the Earth, that he had before when it was first
drain’d. But let’s see _how_, or _when_, these Waters were suck’d up, or
resolv’d into Vapours.

Upon the Expiration of the forty Days Rain, whether was the Air purg’d
of Vapours and clear, or no? Yes, it was purg’d, he says, (p. 343.) _The
Atmosphere was never so exhausted of Vapours, and never so thin, as when
the Waters were newly come down._ Then, in that clear Air the Tops of
the Mountains might have been seen, if they lay above Water. But _Moses_
says, _Gen._ viii. 5. it was in the _tenth Month_ that they begun to be
seen, when the Waters were decreas’d; ’twas therefore the Waters, not
the gross Air, that hinder’d the Sight of them before. And according to
this Method of the Exceptor, after the first forty Days, the Deluge
begun to decrease. For the Sun forthwith set his Engines a-work, and
resolv’d the Waters into Vapours and Exhalations at such a Rate, _p._
341. that he presently made the Atmosphere dark with thick Mists and
Clouds; and, in Proportion, lessen’d the Waters of the Deluge. But we do
not read in _Moses_, of any Abatement in the Deluge, till the End of one
hundred and fifty Days; (_Gen._ viii. 3.) which is four Months after
this Term. The Truth is, the whole Notion of _spending the Waters of the
Deluge by Evaporation_, is no better than what the Exceptor suspected it
would be thought, p. 343. _A mere Fancy, a whimsical groundless
Figment._ For what could the Sun do, in the Northern and Southern Parts
of the World, towards the exhaling of these Waters? And in the temperate
Climates, why should they not fall again in Rains, (if he had a Power to
exhale them) as they do now? Was not the Earth in the same Position, and
the Sun of the same force? Besides, where does he find this Notion in
Scripture, that the Waters of the Deluge were consum’d by Evaporation?
_Moses_ says, the _Waters returned from off the Earth, in going and
returning_, Gen. viii. 3, 5. That is, after frequent Reciprocations,
they settled at length in their Channels; where _Bounds were set them,
that they might not pass over; that they return not again to cover the
Earth_. Seeing therefore this Notion hath no Foundation, either in
Scripture or Reason, ’tis rightly enough stil’d, in the Exceptor’s
Words, a _mere Fancy_, and _groundless Figment_.

But I think we have had enough of these Shifts and Evasions. Let us now
proceed to the second Part of his new Hypothesis, which is this, _p._
303. That the _Abyss_, or _Tehom-Rabbah_, which was broken open at the
Deluge, and (together with the Rains) made the Flood, was nothing but
the Holes and Caverns of Rocks and Mountains; which open’d their Mouths
at that Time, and pour’d out a great Quantity of Water. To support this
new Notion of _Tehom-Rabbah_, he alledgeth but one single Text of
Scripture, _Psal._ lxxviii. 15. _He clave the Rocks in the Wilderness,
and gave them Drink, as out of the great Depths_; that is, copiously and
abundantly, as if it were out of the great Deep. So the next Verse
implies, and so it is generally understood: As you may see both by
Interpreters, and also by the _Septuagint_ and _Vulgate_ Translations,
and those of the _Chaldee Paraphrase_, and the _Syriack_. But the
Exceptor, by all Means, will have these Holes in the Rocks to be the
same with the _Mosaical Abyss_, or great Deep, that was broken open at
the Deluge: So the _great Deep_ was not one Thing, or one continued
Cavity, as _Moses_ represents it, but ten thousand Holes, separate and
distant one from another. Neither must the great Deep, according to him,
signify a _low Place_, but an _high Place_: For he confesses these
Caverns were higher than the common Level of the Earth[20]. But I do not
see how, with any tolerable Propriety, or good Sense, that which is
higher than the Surface of the Earth can be called the _great Deep_. An
Abyss in the Earth, or in the Water, is certainly _downwards_, in
respect of their common Surface, as much as a Pit is _downwards_; and
what is downwards from us, we cannot suppose to be above us, without
confounding all Dimensions, and all Names of Things; calling that low
which is high, a Mountain a Valley, or a Garret a Cellar.

Neither is there any Thing in this Text, _Psal._ lxxviii. 15. that can
justly induce us to believe the _great Abyss_ to be the same Thing with
Caverns in Rocks. For whether you suppose it to be noted here as a
miraculous Thing, that God should give them Water _out of a Rock, or out
of a Flint_[21], as plentifully as if it had been out of the great
Abyss; or whether you understand the Original of Fountains to be noted
here, which are said in Scripture to come from the Sea, or the great
Abyss; neither of these Senses make any Thing to the Purpose of the new
Hypothesis, and yet they are the fairest and easiest Sense that can be
put upon the Words; and that which agrees best with other Places of
Scripture, where the same Matter of Fact, or the same History is
related: And therefore there can be no Necessity, from this Text, of
changing the general Notion and Signification of _Deep_, or _Abyss_;
both from that which it hath in common Use, and that which it hath in
Scripture Use.

I say, as in the common Use of Words, _Deep_, or _Abyss_, signifies some
low or inferior Place; so the general Use of it in Scripture is, in the
same Sense, either to signify the Sea, or some subterraneous Place. _Who
shall descend into the_ (Abyss, or) _Deep_? says the Apostle, _Rom._ x.
7. Is that as much as if he had said, Who shall _ascend_ into the Holes
of the Rocks? And when _Jacob_ speaks of the Blessings of the Abyss, or
of the Deep, he calls them the Blessings of the _Deep that lyeth under_,
_Gen._ xix. 25. In like Manner, _Moses_ himself calls it the _Deep that
couched beneath_, _Deut._ xxxiii. 13. And I know no Reason why we should
not understand the same _Deep_ there, that he mentioned before in the
History of the Deluge; which therefore was subterraneous, as this is.
Then, as for the other Use of the Word, namely, for the Sea, or any Part
of the Sea, (whose Bottom is always lower than the Level of the Earth,)
that is the most common Use of it in Scripture. And I need not give you
Instances which are every where obvious.

One must needs think it strange, therefore, that any Man of Judgement
should break thorough both the common Use of a Word, and so many plain
Texts of Scripture, that show the Signification of it, for the sake of
one Text, which, at most, is but dubious; and then lay such Stress upon
that new Signification, as to found a new Doctrine upon it: And a
Doctrine that is neither supported by Reason, nor agrees with the
History of the Deluge. For, as we noted before, at the Decrease of the
Deluge, the Waters are said to _return from off the Earth, Gen. viii.
3_. Did they not return to the Places from whence they came? But if
those Places were the Caverns in the Rocks, whose Mouths lay higher than
the Surface of the Deluge, as he says they did, _p. 303, 305_. I see no
Possibility of the Waters returning into them. But the Exceptor hath
found out a marvellous Invention to invade this Argument. He will have
the _returning_ of the Waters to be understood of their returning into
their Principles, (that is, into Vapours,) not to their Places: In good
Time: So the Dove’s _returning_ was her returning into her Principles;
that is, into an Egg, not into the Ark. Subtleties ill-founded, argue
two Things, Wit and Want of Judgment. _Moses_ speaks as plainly of the
local Return of the Waters, _in going and returning_; as of the local
going and returning of the Raven and Dove. See _Gen. viii. 3, and 5_.
compar’d with Verse seventh and ninth.

Lastly, That we end this Discourse; the whole Notion of these Water-Pots
in the Tops of Mountains, and of the broaching of them at the Deluge, is
a groundless Imagination. What Reason have we to believe, that there
were such Vessels then, more than now, if there was no Fraction of the
Earth at the Deluge, to destroy them? And he ought to have gag’d these
Casks, (according to his own Rule, _Ch. 3._) and told us the Number and
Capacity of them, that we might have made some Judgment of the Effect.
Besides, if the opening the Abyss at the Deluge had been the opening of
Rocks, why did not _Moses_ express it so; and tell us, that the _Rocks
were cloven, and the Waters gushed out_, and so made the Deluge? This
would have been as intelligible, if it had been true, as to tell us that
the _Tehom-Rabbah_ was broken open. But there is not one Word of
_Rocks_, or the _cleaving of Rocks_, in the History of the Flood. Upon
all Accounts, therefore, we must conclude, that this Virtuoso might have
as well suspected, that his whole Theory of the Deluge, as one Part of
it, _p. 343._ would be accounted _a mere Fancy_, and _groundless
Figment_.

Footnote 18:

  The Exceptor rejects, first the _Waters of the Sea_: Then the _Waters
  in the Bowels of the Earth_: Then the _supercelestial Waters_: Then a
  _new Creation of Waters_: Then the _Mass of Air_ chang’d into Water:
  And lastly, a _partial Deluge_. And therefore he puts Men fatally,
  either upon the Theory, or upon his new Hypothesis.

Footnote 19:

  This he acknowledges, _p._ 325. (_We expound a Text or two of
  Scripture so as none ever did; and deferring the common received
  Sense, put an unusual Gloss upon them_, not to say, ἰδίαν ἐπίλυσιν, _a
  private Interpretation_,) and p. 359.

Footnote 20:

  P. 303. _But though these Caverns be called Deeps, we must not take
  them for profound Places, that went down into the Earth, below the
  common Surface of it: On the contrary, they were situate above it._

Footnote 21:

  Psal. cxiv. 7, 8. _Tremble, then Earth, at the Presence of the Lord,
  at the Presence of the God of_ Jacob: _Which turned the Rock into a
  standing Water, the Flint into a Fountain of Waters_.

  Numb. xx. 10, 11. _And_ Moses _and_ Aaron _gathered the Congregation
  together before the Rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, you Rebels;
  must we fetch you Water out of this Rock? And_ Moses _lift up his
  Hand, and with his Rod he smite the Rock twice, and the Water came out
  abundantly_.


                               CHAP. XVI.


This Chapter is made up of eight Objections, against his own Hypothesis.
And those that have a mind to see them, may read them in the Author. I
have taken as much Notice of them as I thought necessary, in the
precedent Chapter; and therefore leave the Exceptor now to deal with
them all together. I omitted one Objection (_p._ 311.) concerning the
shutting up of the Abyss, and the Fountains of the Abyss, because it was
answer`d before in the _English_ Theory, _p._ 143. namely, there were
Fountains in the Abyss, as much as Windows in Heaven; and those were
shut up, as well as these; that is, ceas’d to act, and were put into a
Condition to continue the Deluge no longer.


                              CHAP. XVII.


There is nothing in this Chapter against the Truth of the Theory; but
the Author is blam’d for believing it to be true: I think it had been
more blame-worthy, if he had troubled the World with a Theory which he
did not believe to be true, and taken so much Pains to compose what he
thought himself no better than a Romance. As to what the Theorist has
said in Reference to his Assurance or Belief of the Theory, which the
Exceptor calls _Positiveness_, upon Examination, I cannot find any Thing
amiss in his Conduct, as to that Particular. For, first, he imposes his
Sentiments upon no Man; he leaves every one their full Liberty of
dissenting. _Preface to the Reader_ at the End. _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 St._ Austin _hath observed 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._ And as the Theorist imposes his Sentiments upon no Man; so,
as to Matter of Certainty, he distinguisheth always betwixt the
_Substance_ of the Theory, and _Particularities_. So, at the latter End
of the _first Book_, this Profession is made, _Eng. Theor._ _p._ 207. _I
mean this only_, speaking about Certainty, _as to the general Parts of
the Theory. For as to Particularities, I look upon them only as
problematical; and accordingly I affirm nothing therein, but with a
Power of Revocation, and a Liberty to change my Opinion when I shall be
better inform’d._ And accordingly he says in another Place, _Eng.
Theor._ _p._ 12. _I know how subject we are to Mistakes, in these great
and remote Things, when we descend to Particularities. But I am willing
to expose the Theory to a full Trial, and to shew the Way for any to
examine it, provided they do it with Equity and Sincerity. I have no
other Design than to contribute my Endeavours to find out Truth_, &c.
Lastly, to cite no more Places, he says, _Eng. Theor._ _p._ 402. _There
are many particular Explications that are to be consider’d with more
Liberty and Latitude; and may, perhaps, upon better Thoughts, and better
Observations, be corrected_, &c. The Theorist having thus stated and
bounded his Belief or Assurance, and given Liberty of dissenting to all
others, according to their particular Judgments or Inclinations, I see
nothing unfair or undecent in this Conduct. How could the Observator
have made it more unexceptionable? Would he have had the Theorist to
have profess’d Scepticism, and declar’d that he believ’d his own
Theorist no more than a Romance or fantastical Idea? that had been both
to bely his own Conscience, and to mock the World. I remember I have
heard a good Author once with, that there were an _Act of Parliament_,
that whoever printed a Book, should, when he took a License, swear, that
he thought the _Contents of his Book to be true_, as to Substance: And I
think such a Method would keep off a great many Impertinencies. We ought
not to trouble the World with our roving Thoughts, merely out of an Itch
of Scripturiency, when we do not believe our selves what we write. I
must always profess my Assent to the Substance of that Theory; and am
the more confirm’d in it by the Weakness and Inefficacy of these
Exceptions.

We need not take Notice of the particular Citations he makes use of, to
prove this _Positiveness_ of the Theorist; for they only affirm what we
still own: That the Theory is more than an _Idea_, or that it is not an
_imaginary Idea_, or that it is a _Reality_: And, together with its
Proofs from Scripture, especially from St. _Peter_, hath more than the
Certainty of a _bare Hypothesis_, or a _moral Certainty_. These are the
Expressions he cites, and we own all, that, in fair Construction, they
amount to; and find no Reason, either from the Nature of the Thing, or
from his Objections, to change our Opinion, or make any Apology for too
much Positiveness.

I wish the Exceptor had not more to answer for, as to his _Partiality_,
than the Theorist hath, for his _Positiveness_. And now, that we draw to
a Conclusion, it will not be amiss to observe, how well the Exceptor
hath answered that Character, which he gave himself at the Beginning of
his Work. These are his Words, _p._ 43. _This I will endeavour to do_,
namely, To examine the Theory, _with all Sincerity; and that only as a
Friend and Servant to Truth: And therefore, with such Candor, Meekness,
and Modesty, as becomes one who assumes and glories in so fair a
Character: And also with such Respect to the Virtuoso who wrote the
Theory, as may testify to the World, that I esteem his Learning, while I
question his Opinion._ ’Tis of little Consequence what Opinion he has of
the _Virtuoso_, as he calls him: But let us see with what _Sincerity_
and _Meekness_, he has examin’d his Work. As to his Sincerity, we have
given you some Proofs of it before, (_p._ 26.) both in his defective and
partial Citations; and also, in his never taking Notice of the last
Edition of the Theory; where several Citations he has made use of, are
not extant. Now, by his own Rule, he ought to have had regard to this;
for he says, (_p._ 356.) he will there take Notice only of the _English_
Edition, _as coming out after the other; and so with more Deliberation
and mature Thoughts of Things_. By the same Reason, say I, he ought to
have taken Notice of the last Edition of the Theory, as being the last
Product, and the most _deliberate and mature Thoughts_ of the Author.
But this, it seems, was not for his Purpose.

So much for his Sincerity: Now for his _Meekness_. So impatient he is to
fall upon his Adversary, that he begins his Charge in the Preface, and a
very fierce one it is, (_p._ 3.) _The Theorist hath assaulted Religion,
and that in the very Foundation of it._ Here I expected to have found
two or three Articles of the Creed assaulted or knock’d down by the
Theory. But that is not the Case, it seems, he understands something
more general, namely, our contradicting Scripture: For so he explains
himself in the next Page. _In several Things (as will appear by our
Discourse) it contradicts Scripture; and by too positive asserting the
Truth of its Theorems, makes that to be false, upon which our Religion
is founded._ Let us remember, that this contracting Scripture here
pretended, is only in natural Things; and also observe, how far the
Exceptor himself, in such Things, hath contradicted Scripture. As for
other Reproofs which he gives us, those that are more gentle, I easily
pass over; but somewhere he makes our Assertions, _p._ 78. _too bold an
Affront to Scripture_. And in another Place represents them, as (either
directly, or consequentially) _p._ 286. _Blasphemy against the Holy
Ghost_, which is the unpardonable Sin, _Matt._ xii. 31.

There is no Pleasure in repeating such Expressions, and dreadful
Sentences. Let us rather observe, if the Exceptor hath not made himself
obnoxious to them. But first, we must state the Case truly, that so the
Blame may not fall upon the Innocent. The Case therefore is this,
_Whether_, to go contrary to the Letter of Scripture, in Things that
relate to the natural World, be _destroying the Foundations of
Religion_, _affronting Scripture_, and _blaspheming the Holy Ghost_? In
the Case propos’d, _We_ take the _Negative_, and stand upon that Plea.
But the Exceptor hath taken the _Affirmative_; and therefore, all those
heavy Charges must fall upon himself, if he go contrary to the literal
Sense of Scripture, in his philosophical Opinions or Assertions. And
that he hath done so, we will give you some Instances, out of this
Treatise of his; _p._ 314. He says, _It it most absurd to think, that
the Earth is the Center of the World._ Then the Sun stands still, and
the Earth moves, according to his Doctrine. But this is expressly
contrary to Scripture, in many Places. The _Sun rejoices, as a strong
Man, to run his Race_, says _David_ Ps. xix. 5, 6. _His going forth is
from the End of the Heaven, and his Circuit unto the Ends of it_,
_Josh._ x. 12, 13. 2 _Kings_ xx. 10, 11. _Isa._ xxxviii. 8. No such
Thing, says the Exceptor; the Sun hath no Race to run; he is fix’d in
his Seat, without any progressive Motion. He hath no Course from one End
of the Heavens to the other. In like manner, _Sun, stand thou still
upon_ Gibeon, says the sacred Author, _and the Sun stood still_. No,
says the Exceptor, ’twas the Earth stood still, upon that Miracle; for
the Sun always stood still. And ’tis _absurd_, yea, _most absurd_, to
think otherwise, _p._ 157. And he blames _Tycho Brahe_ for following
Scripture in this Particular. Now, is not this, in the Language of the
Exceptor, to _destroy the Foundations of Religion_, to _affront
Scripture_, and _blaspheme against the Holy Ghost_? But this is not all:
The Exceptor says, (_Chap._ 10.) the Sun rais’d up the Mountains on the
third Day; and the Sun was not in being till the fourth Day, according
to Scripture, _Gen._ i. 14. The Moon also, which, according to
Scripture, was not created till the fourth Day, he says, would hinder
the Formation of the Earth, which was done the third Day. Lastly, in
this new Hypothesis, _p._74. he makes the Waters of the Deluge to be but
fifteen Cubits higher than the Plain, or common Surface of the Earth;
which Scripture affirms expressly to have cover’d the Tops of the
highest Hills, or Mountains, under Heaven, _Gen._ vii. 19, 20. These two
Things are manifestly inconsistent. The Scripture says, _Gen._ viii. 5.
they cover’d the Tops of the highest Mountains: And the Exceptor says
they reached but fifteen Cubits about, or upon the Skirts of them. This,
I think, is truly to contradict Scripture; or, according to his Talent
of loading Things with great Words, _p._ 216. _This is not only flatly,
but loudly contradictory to the most express Word of the infallible
God._

These Observations, I know, are of small Use, unless, perhaps, to the
Exceptor himself. But, if you please, upon this Occasion, let us reflect
a little upon the literal Style of Scripture; and the different
Authority of that Style, according to the Matter that it treats of. The
Subject Matter of Scripture is either such as lies without the
Cognizance and Comprehension of human Reason, or such as lies within it:
If it be the former of these, ’tis what we call properly and purely
_Revelation_; and there we must adhere to the literal Style, because we
have nothing to guide us but that. Such is the Doctrine of the Trinity,
and the Incarnation; wherein we have nothing to authorize our Deviation
from the Letter and Words of Scripture: And therefore the
School-Divines, who have spun those Doctrines into a Multitude of
Niceties and Subtleties, had no Warrant for what they did, and their
Conclusions are of no Authority.

The second Matter or Subject of Scripture is such as falls under the
View and Comprehension of Reason, more or less; and, in the same
Proportion, gives us a Liberty to examine the literal Sense; how far it
is consistent with Reason. and the Faculties of our Mind. Of this Nature
there are several Things in the holy Writings, both moral, theological,
and natural, wherein we recede from the Letter, when it is manifestly
contrary to the Dictates of Reason. I will give some Instances in every
kind: First, as to moral Things. Our Saviour says, _Mat._ v. 29, 30. _If
thy right Eye offend thee, pluck it out: If thy Right Hand offend thee,
cut it off._ There is no Man that thinks himself obliged to the literal
Practice of this Doctrine; and yet it is plainly delivered, you see, in
these Terms in the Gospel. Nay, which is more, our Saviour backs and
enforces the Letter of this Doctrine with a _Reason_: _For it is
profitable for thee that one of thy Members should perish, and not that
thy whole Body should be cast into Hell_: As if he had intended, that
his Precept should have been really executed according to the Letter. In
like manner our Saviour says, _If any Man wilt sue thee at Law, and take
away thy Coat, let him have thy Cloak also._ And yet there is no
Christian so good-natur’d as to practice this, nor any Casuist so rigid
as to enjoy it, according to the Letter. Other Instances you may see in
our Saviour’s Sermon upon the Mount, where we do not scruple to lay
aside the Letter, when it is judg’d contrary to the Light of Nature, or
impracticable in human Society.

In all other Things also, that lie within the Sphere of human Reason, we
are allowed to examine their _Practicability_, or their _Credibility_.
To instance in something theological, the Words of _Consecration_ in the
Sacrament. Our Saviour, when he instituted the last Supper, us’d these
Words: _This is my Body_, taking the Bread into his Hand; which Words,
join’d with that Action, are very formal and expressive; yet we do not
scruple to forsake the literal Sense, and take the Words in another Way:
But upon what Warrant do we this? because the literal Sense contains an
Absurdity; because it contradicts the Light of Nature; because it is
inconsistent with the Idea of a Body, and so destroys it self. In like
Manner, upon the Idea of the Divine Nature, we dispute absolute
Reprobation, and Eternity of Torments, against the Letter of Scripture.
And, lastly, whether the Resurrection Body consists of the same
individual Parcels and Particles, whereof the mortal Body consisted,
before it was putrefied or dispers’d? And, _Phil._ iv. 3. _Apoc._ iii. 5
and xx. 12. whether the _Books of Life_ are to be understood in a
literal Sense?

The last Head is of such Things as belong to the natural World. And to
this may be reduced innumerable Instances, where we leave the literal
Sense, if inconsistent with Science or Experience. And the Truth is, if
we should follow the vulgar Style and literal Sense of Scripture, we
should all be _Anthropomorphites_, as to the Nature of God: And as to
the Nature of his Works in the external Creation, we must renounce
Philosophy and natural Experience, if the Descriptions and Accounts
given in Scripture, concerning the _Heavens_, the _Earth_, the _Sea_,
and other Parts of the World, be received as accurate and just
Representations of the State and Properties of those Bodies. Neither is
there any Danger, lest this should affect or impeach the Divine
Veracity; for Scripture never undertook, nor was ever designed to teach
us Philosophy, or the Arts and Sciences: And whatsoever the Light of
Nature can reach and comprehend, is improperly the Subject of
Revelation. But some Men, out of Love to their own Ease, and in Defence
of their Ignorance, are not only for a Scripture Divinity, but also for
a Scripture Philosophy. ’Tis a cheap and compendious Way, and saves them
the Trouble of farther Study or Examination.

Upon the whole, you see, it is no Fault to recede from the literal Sense
of Scripture; but the Fault is, when we leave it without a just Cause:
As it is no Fault for a Man to separate from a Church, or for a Prince
to make War against his Neighbour, but to do the one or the other,
without a just Cause, is a real Fault. We all leave the literal Sense in
certain Cases, and therefore that alone is no sufficient Charge against
any Man. But he that makes a Separation, if I may so call it, without
good Reasons, he is truly obnoxious to Censure. The great Result of all,
therefore, is this, to have some common Rule to direct us, when every
one ought to follow, and when to leave, the literal Sense. And that Rule
which is generally agreed upon by good Interpreters, is this, _Not_ to
leave the literal Sense, when the Subject-Matter will bear it, without
Absurdity or Incongruity. This Rule I have always proposed to my self,
and always endeavoured to keep close to it. But some inconsiderate Minds
make every Departure from the Letter, let the Matter or Cause be what it
will, to be an Affront to Scripture: And there, where we have the
greatest Liberty, I mean in Things that relate to the natural World,
they have no more Indulgence or Moderation, than if it was an
Intrenchment upon the Articles of Faith. In this Particular I cannot
excuse the present Animadverter; yet, I must needs say, he is a very
Saint in Comparison of another Animadverter, who hath writ upon the same
Subject; but neither like a Gentleman, nor like a Christian, nor like a
Scholar. And such Writings answer themselves.




     A SHORT CONSIDERATION OF _Mr._ ERASMUS WARREN’S DEFENCE OF HIS
            EXCEPTIONS AGAINST THE _THEORY_ of the _EARTH_.


_In a_ LETTER _to a Friend_.


_SIR_,


I have read over Mr. _Erasmus Warren’s_ Defence of his Exceptions
against _the Theory of the Earth_; which, it may be, few will do after
me; as not having Curiosity or Patience enough to read such a long
Pamphlet, of private or little Use. Such Altercations as these, are to
you, I believe, as they are to me, a sort of Folly; but the Aggressor
must answer for that, who makes the Trouble unavoidable to the
Defendant. And ’tis an unpleasant Exercise, a kind of Wild-goose-chase;
where he that leads must be followed, through all his Extravagancies.

The Author of this Defence must pardon me, if I have less Apprehensions
both of his Judgment and Temper, than I had before: For, as he is too
verbose and long-winded ever so make a close Reasoner; so it was
unexpected to me to find his Style so captious and angry, as it is in
this last Paper. And the same Strain continuing to the End, I was sorry
to see that his Blood had been kept upon the Fret, for so many Months
together, as the Pamphlet was a making.

He might have made his Work much shorter, without any Loss to the Sense.
If he had left out his popular Enlargements, juvenile Excursions,
Stories and Strains of Country-Rhetorick, (whereof we shall give you
some Instances hereafter) his Book would have been reduc’d to half the
Compass: And if from that reduc’d half, you takeaway again trifling
Altercations and pedantick Repartees, the Remainder would fall into the
Compass of a few Pages. For my part, I am always apt to suspect a Man
that makes me a long Answer; for the precise Point to be spoken to, in a
multitude of Words, is easily lost, and Words are often multiplied for
that very Purpose.

However, if his Humour be verbose, it might have been, at least, more
easy and inoffensive; there having been no Provocation given him in that
kind. But let us guess, if you please, as well as we can, what it was in
the late Answer, that so much discomposed the Exceptor and altered his
Style: Either it must be the Words and Language of that Answer, or the
Sense of it, without Respect to the Language. As to the Words, ’tis
true, he gives some instances of Expressions offensive to him; yet they
are but three or four, and those, methinks, not very high, _p._ 31. tho’
he calls them the _Brats of Passion_; they are these, _indiscreet_,
_rude_, _injudicious_ and _uncharitable_. These Characters, it seems,
are applied to the Exceptor, in some part of the Answer, upon Occasion
offer’d; and whether those Occasions were just or no, I dare appeal to
your Judgment. As to the Word _rude_, which seems the most harsh, I had
said indeed, that he was _rude_ to _Anaxagoras_; and so he was, not to
allow him to be a competent Witness in matter of Fact, whom all
Antiquity, sacred and prophane, hath represented to us as one of the
greatest Men amongst the Antients. I had also said in another Place,
that _a rude_, and _injudicious Defence of Scripture_, by _Railing and
ill Language_, is the _true way to lessen and disparage it_. This I
still justify as true; and if he apply it to himself, much good may it
do him. I do not remember that it is any where said, that he was _rude_
to the Theorist; if it be, ’tis possibly upon his charging him with
_Blasphemy, horrid Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost_, for saying, _the
Earth was dissolv’d at the Deluge_. And I appeal to any Man, whether
this is not an _uncharitable_, and a _rude_ Charge. If a Man had cursed
God, or call’d our Saviour an Impostor, what could he have been charg’d
with more, than _Blasphemy, horrid Blasphemy_? And if the same things be
charg’d upon a Man, for saying, the Earth was dissolv’d at the Deluge,
either all Crimes and Errors must be equal, or the Charge must be rude.
But however it must be rude in the Opinion of the Theorist, who thinks
this neither Crime nor Error.

What says the _Defence_ of the Exceptions to this; _p._ 153. it makes
use of Distinctions for Mitigation of the Censure; and says, it will
_indirectly_, _consequentially_, or _reductively be of blasphemous
Importance_. Here Blasphemy is changed into _blasphemous Importance_,
and _horrid Blasphemy_ into _consequential_, _&c._ But taking all these
Mitigations, it seems however, according to his Theology, all Errors in
Religion are _Blasphemy_ or of _blasphemous Importance_. For all Errors
in Religion must be against Scripture one way or other; at least
consequentially, indirectly, or reductively; and all that are so,
according to the Doctrine of this Author, must be _Blasphemy_, or of
_blasphemous Importance_. This is crude Divinity, and the Answerer had
Reason to subjoin what he cited before, that a rude and injudicious
Defence of Scripture, is the true way to lessen and disparage it.

Thus much for _rude_ and _uncharitable_; as for the other two Words,
_indiscreet_ and _injudicious_, I cannot easily be induc’d to make any
Apology for them. On the contrary, I’m afraid I shall have Occasion to
repeat these Characters again, especially the latter of them, in the
Perusal of this Pamphlet. However, they do not look like _Brats of
Passion_, as he calls them; but rather as cool and quiet Judgments, made
upon Reasons and Premisses. I had forgot one Expression more: The
Answer, it seems, somewhere calls the Exceptor a _Dabler_ in
_Philosophy_, which he takes ill: But that he is a Dabler, both in
Philosophy and Astronomy, I believe will evidently appear upon this
second Examination of the same Passages upon which that Character was
grounded. We will therefore leave that to the Trial, when we come to
those Passages again, in the following Discourse.

These, _Sir_, as far as I remember, are the Words and Expressions which
he hath taken Notice of, as offensive to him, and Effects of Passion.
But, methinks, these cannot be of Force sufficient to put him so much
out of Humour, and change his Style so much, as we find it to be in this
last Pamphlet: And therefore I am inclinable to believe, that ’tis the
Sense, rather than the Words, or Language of the Answer, that hath had
this Effect upon him; and that some unhappy Passages, that have expos’d
his Mistakes, were the true Causes of these Resentments. Such Passages I
will guess at, as well as I can, and note them to you as they occur to
my Memory.

But give me leave, first, upon this occasion of his new way of Writing,
to distinguish and mind you of three sorts of arguing, which you may
call _reasoning_, _wrangling_, and _scolding_. In fair reasoning, Regard
is had to Truth only, not to Victory, let it fall on whether side it
will. But in wrangling and scolding, ’tis Victory that is pursued and
aim’d at in the first Place, with little Regard to Truth. And if the
Contention be managed in civil terms, ’tis but wrangling; if in uncivil,
’tis scolding. I will not so far anticipate your Judgment, as to rank
this Arguer in any of the three Orders: It you have Patience to read
over his Pamphlet, you will best see how and where to set him in his
proper Place.

We now proceed to those Passages in the Answer, which probably have most
exasperated the Author of the Exceptions and the Defence, _Exc._ _p._
77, _&c._ In his Exceptions he had said, the Moon being present, or in
her present Place in the Firmament, at the time of the Chaos, she would
certainly trouble and discompose it, as she does now the Waters of the
Sea; and, by that Means, hinder the Formation of the Earth. To this we
answer’d, that the _Moon that was made the fourth Day, could not hinder
the formation of the Earth, which was made the third Day_. This was a
plain intelligible Answer, and at the same time discover’d such a
manifest Blunder in the Objection, as could not but give an uneasy
Thought to him that made it.

However we must not deny, but that he makes some Attempt to silence it
off in his Reply; for he says, _Def._ _p._ 12. _The Earth formed the
third Day was_ Moses’s _Earth, which the Exceptor contends for; but the
Earth he disputes against is the Theorist’s, which could not be formed
the third Day_. He should have added, and therefore _would be hinder’d
by the Moon_, otherwise this takes off nothing. And now the Question
comes to a clear State; for when the Exceptor says, the Moon would have
hinder’d the Formation of the Earth, either he speaks upon _Moses_’s
Hypothesis, or upon the Theorist’s Hypothesis. Not upon the Theorist’s
Hypothesis, for the Theorist does not suppose the Moon present then;
_Eccl._ _p._ 77, 78. _Def._ _p._ 73. _l._ 12, 13. And if he speaks upon
_Moses_’s Hypothesis, the Moon that was made the fourth Day, must have
hinder’d the Formation of the Earth the third Day. So that the Objection
is a Blunder upon either Hypothesis.

Furthermore, whereas he suggests that the Answerer makes use of
_Moses_’s Hypothesis to confute his Adversary, but does not follow it
himself: ’Tis so far true, that the Theorist never said that _Moses_’s
six Days Creation was to be understood literally; but however it is
justly urged against those that understand it literally, and they must
not contradict that Interpretation, which they own and defend.

So much for the Moon, and this first Passage, which I suppose was
troublesome to our Author. But he makes the same Blunder in another
Place, as to the _Sun_: Both the Luminaries, it seems, stood in his Way.
In the tenth Chapter of his Exceptions, he gives us a new Hypothesis
about the _Origin of Mountains_, which, in short, is this; that they
were drawn or suck’d out of the Earth by the Influence and
Instrumentality of the Sun: Whereas the Sun was not made, according to
_Moses_, till the fourth Day, and the Earth was form’d the third Day.
’Tis an unhappy Thing to split twice upon the same Rock, and upon a Rock
so visible. He that can but reckon to four, can tell whether the third
Day, or fourth Day came sooner.

To cure this Hypothesis about the _Origin of Mountains_, he takes great
pains in his _Defence_, _pag._ 97, 98, 99, 100, 101. and attempts to do
it by help of a Distinction, dividing Mountains into _Maritime_ and
_Inland_. Now ’tis true, says he, _These maritime Mountains, and such as
were made with the Hollow of the Sea, must rise when that was sunk or
deprest_; namely, the third Day. Yet inland ones, he says, might be
raised some earlier, and some later, and by the Influence of the Sun.
This is a weak and vain Attempt to defend his Notion; for, betides that
this Distinction of _maritime_ and _inland Mountains_, as arising from
different Causes, and at different Times, is without any Ground, either
in Scripture or Reason, if their different Origin was admitted, the
Sun’s extracting these inland Mountains out of the Earth, would still be
absurd and incongruous upon other Accounts.

Scripture, I say, makes no such Distinction of Mountains, made at
different Times, and from different Causes. This is plain, seeing
_Moses_ does not mention Mountains at all in his six Days Creation, nor
any where else, till the Deluge: What Authority have we then to make
this Distinction; or to suppose that all the great Mountains of the
Earth were not made together? Besides, what length of Time would you
require, for the Production of these inland Mountains? Were they not all
made within the six Days Creation? Hear what _Moses_ says at the end of
the sixth Day. _Thus the Heavens and the Earth were finished, and all
the Host of them_, Gen. c. xxi. _And on the seventh Day, God ended his
Work which he had made._ Now if the Exceptor says, that the Mountains
were all made within these six Days, we will not stand with him for a
Day or two; for that would make little Difference as to the Action of
the Sun. But if he will not confine their Production to _Moses_’s six
Days, how does he keep to the _Mosaical_ Hypothesis? Or how shall we
know where he will stop in his own Way? For if they were not made within
the six Days, for any thing he knows, they might not be made till the
Deluge; seeing Scripture no where mentions Mountains before the Flood.

And as Scripture makes no Distinction of _maritime and inland Mountain_,
so neither hath this Distinction any Foundation in Nature or Reason: For
there is no apparent or discernable Difference betwixt maritime and
inland Mountains, nor any Reason why they should be thought to proceed
from different Causes, or to be rais’d at different Times. The maritime
Mountains are as rocky, as ruderous, and as irregular and various in
their Shape and Posture, as the inland Mountains. They have no
distinctive Characters, nor any different Properties, internal or
external, in their Matter, Form, or Composition, that can give us any
Ground to believe, that they came from a different Original. So that
this Distinction is merely precarious, neither founded in Scripture nor
Reason, but made for the nonce to serve a Turn.

Besides, what Bounds will you give to these maritime Mountains? Are they
distinguished from inland Mountains barely by their Distance from the
Sea, or by some other Character? If barely by Distance, tell us then how
far from the Sea do the maritime Mountains reach, and where do the
inland begin, and how shall we know the _Terminalis Lapis_? Especially
in a continued Chain of Mountains, that reach from the Sea many hundreds
of Miles, inland; as the _Alps_ from the Ocean to _Pontus Euxinus_, and
_Taurus_, as he says, _Def._ _p._ 143. fifteen hundred Miles in length,
from the _Chinese_ Ocean to the Sea of _Pamphylia_. In such an
uninterrupted Ridge of Mountains, where do the Land-Mountains end, and
Sea-Mountains begin? Or what Mark is there, whereby we may know that
they are not all of the same Race, or do not all spring from the same
Original? Such obvious Enquiries as these, shew sufficiently, that the
Distinction is merely arbitrary and ficticious.

But suppose this Distinction was admitted, and the maritime Mountains
made the third Day, but inland Mountains I know not when: The great
Difficulty still remains, _How_ the Sun rear’d up these inland
Mountain’s afterward? Or if his Power be sufficient for such Effects,
why have we not Mountains made still to this Day? Seeing our
Mountain-maker, the Sun, is still in the Firmament, and seems to be as
busy at Work as ever. The _Defender_ hath made some Answer to this
Question, in these Words, _Def. p._ 99. _The Question is put, why have
we no Mountains made now? It might as well have been ask’d_, says he,
_Why does not the Fire make a Dough-bak’d Loaf swell and puff up?_ And,
he says, _this Answer must be satisfactory to the Question propounded_.
It must be, that is, for want of a better; for otherwise this
Dough-comparison is unsatisfactory upon many Accounts. First, there was
no Ferment in the Earth, as in this Dough-cake: at least it is not
prov’d, or made appear, that there was any. Nay, when this Hypothesis
was propos’d, there was no Mention at all made of any Ferment or Leaven
in the Earth; but the Effect was wholly imputed to _Venus_ and the
_Sun_. But to supply their Defects, he now ventures to add the Word,
_fermentive_, as he calls it. A _fermentive, flatulent Principle_, which
heav’d up the Earth, as Leaven does Dough. But, besides, that this is a
mere groundless and gross _Postulatum_, to suppose any such Leaven in
the Earth; if there had been such a Principle, it would have swollen the
whole Mass uniformly, heav’d up the exterior Region of the Earth every
where, and so not made Mountains, but a swollen bloated Globe.

This, Sir, is a second Passage, which I thought might make the Defender
uneasy. We proceed now to a third and fourth in his Geography and
Astronomy. In the 14th Chapter of his Exceptions, _p._ 289. speaking of
the Change of the Situation of the Earth, from a right Posture to an
oblique, he says, _according to the Theory, the Ecliptick in the
primitive Earth, was its Equinoctial now_. This, he is told by the
Answer, is a great Mistake; namely, to think that the _Earth, when it
chang’d its Situation, chang’d its Poles and Circles_. What is now
reply’d to this? _He speaks against a Change_, says the Defence, _in the
Poles and Circles of the Earth; a needless Trouble, and occasioned by
his own Oversight. For had he but looked into the Errata’s, he might
have seen there, that these Parentheses, upon which he grounded what he
says, should have been left out._ So this is acknowledg’d an _Erratum_
it seems, but an _Erratum Typographicum_; not in the Sense, but only in
the _Parentheses_, which, he says, should have been left out. Let us
then lay aside the Parentheses, and the Sentence stands thus: _For under
the Ecliptick, which in the primitive Situation of the Earth, according
to the Theory_, was its _Equinoctial, and divided the Globe into two
Hemispheres, as the Equator does now. The dry Ground, &c._ How does this
alter or mend the Sense? Is it not still as plainly affirm’d, as before,
that according to the Theory, the Ecliptick in the primitive Earth was
equinoctial? And the same thing is suppos’d throughout all this
Paragraph, _Exc._ p. 289, 290. And if he will own the Truth, and give
Things their proper Name, ’tis downright Ignorance, or gross Mistake in
the _Doctrine of the Sphere_, which he would first father upon the
_Theory_, and then upon the _Parentheses_.

And this leads me to a fourth Passage, much-what of the same Nature,
where he would have the Earth to have been translated out of the Æquator
into the Ecliptick, and to have chang’d the Line of its Motion about the
Sun, when it chang’d its Situation. His Words are these, _Exc._ p. 158,
159. _So that in her annual Motion about the Sun, she_, namely the
Earth, before her Change of Situation, _was carried directly under the
Equinoctial_. This is his Mistake; the Earth mov’d in the Ecliptick,
both before and after her Change of Situation; for the Change was not
made in the Circle of her Motion about the Sun, but in her Posture or
Inclination in the same Circle: Whereas he supposes that she _shifted
both Posture, and also her Circuit about the Sun_, Ibid. _p._ 159. as
his Words are in the next Paragraph. But we shall have Occasion to
reflect upon this again in its proper Place. We proceed now to another
astronomical Mistake.

A fifth Passage, which probably might disquiet him, is his false
Argumentation at the end of the eighth Chapter concerning _Days_ and
_Months_, _Exc._ p. 187. He says there, if the natural Days were longer
towards the Flood than at first, (which no body however affirms) fewer
than thirty would have made a Month; whereas the Duration of the Flood
is computed by Months, consisting of thirty Days a-piece; _Therefore_,
says he, _they were no longer than ordinary_. This Argumentation the
_Answer_ told him, _was a mere Paralogism, or a mere Blunder_: For
thirty Days are thirty Days, whether they are longer or shorter; and
Scripture does not determine the Length of the Days. There are several
Pages spent in the _Defence_, to get off the Blunder: Let’s hear how he
begins, _p._ 78, 79, 80, 81. _Tho’ Scripture does not limit or account
for the Length of Days expresly, yet it does it implicitly, and withal
very plainly and intelligibly._ This is deny’d: And if he makes this
out, that Scripture does very _plainly_ and _intelligibly_ determine the
Length of Days at the Deluge, and makes them equal with ours at present,
then, I acknowledge, he hath remov’d the Blunder; otherwise it stands
the same, unmov’d and unmended. Now observe how he makes this out:
_For_, says he, _Scripture gives us to understand, that Days before the
Flood, were of the same Length, that they are of now, BY INFORMING US,
that Months and Years, which were of the same Length then that they are
of at present, were made up of the same Number of Days_. Here the
Blunder is still continued, or, at best, it is but transferr’d from Days
to Months, or from Months to Years. He says, _Scripture informs us that
Months and Years were of the same Length then, that they are of at
present_. If he mean by the _same Length_, the same _Number of_ Days, he
relapses into the old Blunder, and we still require the Length of those
Days. But if Scripture informs us that the Months and Years at the
Flood, were of the same Length that they are of now, according to any
absolute and known Measure, distinct from the _Number of Days_, then the
Blunder is sav’d. Let’s see therefore by whether of these two Ways he
proves it in the next Words, which are these: _For how could there be
just twelve Months in the Year, at the time of the Deluge; and thirty
Days in each of those Months, if the Days then had not consisted, as
they do now, of twenty four Hours a-piece?_ We allow a Day might then
consist of twenty four Hours, if the Distinction of Hours was so
ancient. But what then? the Question returns concerning the Length of
those _Hours_, as it was before concerning the Length of the _Days_; and
this is either _idem per idem_, or the same Error in another Instance.
If you put but _Hours_ in the place of _Days_, the Words of the _Answer_
have still the same Force: _Twenty four Hours were to go to a Day,
whether the Hours were longer or shorter, and Scripture does not
determine the Length of the Hours._ This, you see, is still the same
Case, and the same Paralogism hangs upon both Instances.

But he goes on still in this false Tract, in these Words: _And as
Providence hath so ordered Nature, that Days (that depend upon its
diurnal Motion) should be measur’d by Circumgyrations of the Earth——So
it hath taken Care that each of these Circumrotations should be
performed in twenty four Hours; and consequently that every Day should
be just so long, that thirty of them (in way of round reckoning) might
complete a Month._ Admit all this, that thirty Days complete a Month;
still if Scripture hath not determin’d the Length of those Days, nor the
Slowness or Swiftness of the Circumgyrations that make them, it hath not
determin’d the Length of those Months, nor of the Years that depend upon
them. This one would take to be very intelligible; yet he goes on in the
same Maze, thus: _But now had the Circumgyrations of the Earth grown
more slow towards the Deluge (by such Causes as the Exceptor suggested)
so as every Day had consisted of thirty Hours_, &c. But how so, I pray?
This is a wild Step; why thirty Hours? Where does Scripture say so, or
where does the _Theorist_ say so? We say the Day consisted then, as now,
of twenty four Hours, whether the Hours were longer or shorter; and that
Scripture hath not determin’d the Length of those Hours, nor
consequently of those Months, nor consequently of those Years. So after
all this ado, we are just where we were at first, namely, that Scripture
not having determin’d the absolute Length of any one, you cannot by that
determine the Length of any other. And by his shifting and multiplying
Instances, he does but _absurda absurdis accumulare, ne perpluant_.

We offer’d before, in our Answer, to give the Exceptor some Light into
his Mistake, by distinguishing in these Things, what is _absolute_ from
what is _relative_: The former whereof cannot, under these or any such
like Circumstances, be determin’d by the latter. For Instance: A Man
hath ten Children, and he will not say absolutely and determinatively
what Portion he will give with any one of them; but he says, I will give
my eldest Child a tenth Part more than my second; and my second a ninth
Part more than my third; and my third an eighth Part more than my
fourth; and so downwards, in proportion to the youngest: Not telling
you, in any absolute Sum, what Money he will give the youngest, or any
other; you cannot, by this, tell what Portion the Man will give with any
of his Children. I leave you to apply this, and proceed to a nearer
Instance, by comparing the Measures of _Time_ and _Longitude_. If you
know how many Inches make a Foot, how many Feet a Pace, how many Paces a
Mile, _&c._ you cannot by these Numbers determine the absolute Quantity
of any one of the aforesaid Measures, but only their relative Quantity
as to one another. So if Scripture had determin’d, of how many Hours a
Day consisted; of how many Days a Month; of how many Months a Year; you
could not by this alone determine the absolute Duration or Quantity of
any one of these, nor whether they were longer or shorter than our
present Hours, Days, Months, or Years. And therefore, I say still, as I
said at first, thirty Days are thirty Days, whether they are longer or
shorter; and thirty Circumgyrations of the Earth are thirty, whether
they be slower or swifter: And that no Scripture-Proof can be made from
this, either directly or consequentially, that the Days before the Flood
were, or were not, longer than they are at present. But we have been too
long upon this Head.

We proceed now from his Astronomy to his Philosophy. ’Twas observ’d in
the _Answer_, p. 38. that the Exceptor in the Beginning of the ninth
Chapter, suppos’d terrestrial Bodies to have _Nitency inwards, or
downwards, towards the Center_. This was noted as a false Principle in
Philosophy, and to rectify his Mistake, he now replies, _Def._ p. 82.
That he understood that Expression only of _self-central_ and _quiescent
Bodies_: Whereas, in truth, the Question he was speaking to, was about a
fluid Body turning upon its Axis. But however, let us admit his new
Sense, his Principle, I’m afraid, will still need Rectification; namely,
he affirms now, that _quiescent earthly Bodies_ are _impregnated with a
Nitency inward, or downward towards the Center_. I deny also this
reform’d Principle; if Bodies be turn’d round, they have a Nitency
upwards, or from the Center of their Motion. If they be not turn’d
round, nor mov’d, but quiescent, they have no Nitency at all, neither
upwards nor downwards, but are indifferent to all Lines of Motion,
according as an external Impulse shall carry them, this Way or that Way.
So that his _Impregnation with a Nitency downwards_, is an occult and
fictitious Quality, which is not in the Nature of Bodies, whether in
Motion or in Rest. The Truth is, the Author of the Exceptions makes a
great Flutter about the _Cartesian Philosophy_, and the _Copernican
System_, but the frequent Mistakes he commits in both, give a just
Suspicion that he understands neither.

Lastly, we come to the grand Discovery of a _fifteen-cubit Deluge_,
which, it may be, was as uneasy to him upon second Thoughts, as any of
the rest; at least one would guess so, by the Changes he hath made in
his Hypothesis. For he hath now, in this _Defence_, p. 181, 182. reduc’d
the Deluge to a Destruction of the World by _Famine_, rather than by
_Drowning_. I do not remember in Scripture any Mention made of _Famine_
in that great Judgment of Water brought upon Mankind; but he thinks he
hath found out something that favours his Opinion; namely, _that a good
Part of Mankind at the Deluge, were not drown’d, but starv’d for want of
Victuals_. And the Argument is this, because in the Story of the Deluge,
Men are not said to be _drown’d_, but to _perish_, _die_, or be
_destroy’d_. But are they said any where in the Story of the Deluge, to
have been _famish’d_? And when God says to _Noah_, Gen. vi. 17. _I will
bring a Flood of Waters upon the Earth, to destroy all Flesh_; does it
not plainly signify, that that Destruction should be by _drowning_? But
however, let us hear our Author; when he had been making use of this new
Hypothesis of _starving_, to take off some Arguments urged against his
fifteen-cubit Deluge, (particularly, that it would not be sufficient to
destroy all Mankind) he adds these Words by way of Proof: _Def._ p. 182.
_And methinks there is one Thing which seems to insinuate, that a good
Part of the animal World might perhaps came to an End thus; by being
driven to such Straights by the overflowing Waters, as to be FAMISH’D or
STARV’D to Death. The Thing is this, in the Story of the Deluge, it is
no where said of Men and living Creatures, that they were drown’d, but
they died, or were destroyed._ Those that are _drown’d_ are _destroy’d_,
I imagine, as well as those that are _starv’d_; so this proves nothing.
But that the Destruction here spoken of, was by drowning, seems plain
enough, both from God’s Word to _Noah_ before the Flood, and by his
Words after the Flood, when he makes his Covenant with _Noah_, in this
Manner: _I will establish my Covenant with you, neither shall all Flesh
be cut off any more by the Waters of a Flood_, Gen. ix. 11. Now, to be
cut off, or destroy’d by the Waters of a Flood, is, methinks, to be
drown’d; And I take _all Flesh_ to comprehend the animal World, or, at
least, all Mankind. Accordingly our Saviour says, _Matth._ xxiv. 39. in
_Noah_’s Time, _the Flood came and took them all away_; namely, all
Mankind.

This is one Expedient our Author hath found out, to help to bear off the
Inconveniencies that attend his fifteen-cubit Deluge; namely, by
converting a good Part of it into a _Famine_. But he hath another
Expedient to join to this, by increasing the Waters; and that is done by
making the _common Surface_ of the Earth, or the _highest Parts_ of it,
as he calls them, _Def._ 165 and 180, to signify ambiguously, or any
Height that pleases him; and consequently fifteen Cubits above that,
signifies also what Height he thinks fit. But in reality, there is no
Surface common to the Earth, but either the _exterior Surface_, whether
it be high or low; or the _ordinary Level_ of the Earth, as it is a
Globe or Convex Body. If by his _common Surface_ he mean the _exterior
Surface_, that takes in Mountains as well as Lowlands, or any other
superficial Parts of the Earth. And therefore, if the Deluge was fifteen
Cubits above this common Surface, it was fifteen Cubits above the
highest Mountains, as we say it was. But, if by the common Surface he
mean the common Level of the Earth, as it is a Globular or Convex Body,
then we gave it a right Name, when we call’d it the _ordinary Level_ of
the Earth; namely, that Level or Surface that lies in an equal Convexity
with the Surface of the Sea: And his fifteen Cubits of Water from that
Level, would never drown the World. Lastly, if by the common Surface of
the Earth, he understand a third Surface, different from both these, he
must define it, and define the Height of it; that we may know how far
this fifteen-cubit Deluge rise, from some known Basis. One known Basis
is the Surface of the Sea, and that Surface of the Land that ties in an
equal Convexity with it: Tell us then, if the Waters of the Deluge were
but fifteen Cubits higher than the Surface of the Sea, that we may know
their Height by some certain and determinate Measure; and upon that
examine the Hypothesis: But tell us they were fifteen Cubits above, not
the Mountains or the Hills, but the Highlands, or the _highest Parts of
the common Surface of the Earth_, and not to tell us the Height of these
highest Parts from any known Basis; nor how they are distinguish’d from
Hills and Mountains, which incur our Senses, and are the Measures given
us by _Moses_: This, I say, is but to cover his Hypothesis with
Ambiguities, when he had made it without Grounds, and to leave room to
set his Water-Mark higher or lower, as he should see Occasion or
Necessity. And of this indeed we have an Instance in his last Pamphlet;
for he has rais’d his Water-Mark there, more than an hundred Cubits
higher than it was before. In his _Exceptions_, he said, _p._ 300. _not
that the Waters were no where higher than just fifteen Cubits_ above the
Ground, they might in most Places be _thirty_, _forty_, or _fifty Cubits
higher_. But, in his _Defence_, he says, _p._ 180. the Waters might be
an _hundred_ or _two hundred Cubits higher_ than the _general ordinary
Plain_ of the Earth. Now what Security have we, but that, in the next
Pamphlet they may be five hundred or a thousand Cubits higher than the
ordinary Surface of the Earth?

This is his second Expedient, raising his Water-Mark indefinitely. But
if these two Methods be not sufficient to destroy Mankind, and the
animate World, he hath yet a third, which cannot fail; and that is,
_destroying them by evil Angels_, Def. p. 90. _Flectere si nequeo_—This
is his last Refuge; to which Purpose he hath these Words, _When Heaven
was pleas’d to give Satan leave, he caus’d the Fire to consume_ Job_’s
Sheep, and caused the Wind to destroy his Children. And how easily could
these Spirits, that are Ministers of God’s Vengeance, have made the
Waters of the Flood fatal to those Creatures that might have escaped
them, if any could have done it?_ As suppose an Eagle, or a Faulcon; the
Devil and his Crew catch them all, and held their Noses under Water:
However, methinks, this is not fair Play to deny the Theorist the
Liberty to make use of the Ministry of _good Angels_, when he himself
makes use of _evil Spirits_.

These, Sir, and such like Passages, where the Notions of the Exceptor
have been exposed, were the Causes, I imagine, of his angry Reply. Some
Creatures, you know, are more fierce after they are wounded; and some,
upon a gentle Chase, will fly from you; but if you press them, and put
them to Extremities, they turn, and fly in your face. I see, by our
Author’s Example, how easily, in these personal Altercations, Reasoning
degenerates into Wrangling, and Wrangling into Scolding. However, if I
may judge from these two Hypotheses which he hath made, about the _Rise
of Mountains_, and a _fifteen-Cubit Deluge_, of all Trades, I should
never advise him to turn _Hypothesis-Maker_. It does not seem at all to
lie to his Hand; and Things never thrive that are undertaken, _Diis
iratis, Genioque sinistro_.

But as we have given you some Account of this Author’s philosophical
Notions, so it may be you will expect that we should entertain you with
some Pieces of his Wit and Eloquence. The Truth is, he seems to delight
and value himself upon a certain kind of Country-Wit and popular
Eloquence, and I will not grudge you the Pleasure of enjoying them both,
in such Instances as I remember. Speaking in Contempt of the Theory and
the Answer, (which is one great Subject of his Wit) he expresses himself
thus, _Def._ p. 48. _But if Arguments be so weak, that they will fall
with a Phillip, why should greater Force be used to beat them down? To
draw a Rapier to stab a Fly, or to charge a Pistol to kill a Spider, I
think would be preposterous._ I think so too; in this we are agreed. In
another Place, being angry with the Theorist, that he would not
acknowledge his Errors to him, he hath these Words, p. 128. _’Tis
unlucky for one to rest his Head against a Post; but when he hath done,
if he will say he did not do it, and stand in, and defend what he says,
’tis a Sign he is as senseless as he was unfortunate, and is fitter to
be pitied than confuted._ This Wit, it may be, you’ll say is downright
Clownery. The Truth is, when I observ’d, in reading his Pamphlet, the
Coarseness of his Repartees, and of that sort of Wit wherein he deals
most, and pleases himself, it often rais’d in my Mind, whether I would
or no, the Idea of a _Pedant_, of one that had seen little of the World,
and thought himself much wittier and wiser than others would take him to
be: I will give you but one Instance more of his rustical Wit. Telling
the Theorist of an Itch of Writing, _p._ 214. _Methinks_, says he, _he
might have laid that prurient Humour, by scratching himself with the
Briars of a more innocent Controversy, or by SCRUBBING SOUNDLY against
something else than the Holy Scripture._ He speaks very sensibly, as if
he understood the Disease, and the Way of dealing with it: But I think
_Holy Scripture_ does not come in well upon that Occasion.

All this is nothing, Sir, in comparison of his popular Eloquence: See
with what Alacrity he runs it off-hand, in a Similitude betwixt _Adam_
and a Lord Lieutenant of a County, _p._ 113. _When the King makes a
Gentleman Lord Lieutenant of a County, by virtue of his Commission is he
presently the strongest Man that is in it? Does it enable him to
encounter whole Regiments of Soldiers in his single Person? Does it
impower him to carry a Cannon upon his Neck? Or when the great Gun is
fired off, to catch the Bullet as it flies, and put it up in his Pocket?
So when God gave_ Adam _Dominion over the Fowls, did he mean that he
should dive like a Duck, or soar like a Falcon? That he should swim as
naturally as the Swan, and hunt the Kite or Hobby, as Boys do the Wren?
Did he mean that he should hang up Ostriches in a Cage, as People do
Linnets, or fetch down the Eagles to feed with his Pullen, and make them
perch with his Chickens in the Henroost?_

So much for the Fowls; now for the Fish. _Ibid._ When God _gave_ Adam
_Dominion over the Sea, was he to be able to dwell at the Bottom, or to
walk on the Top of it? To drain it as a Ditch, or to take all its Fry at
once in a Drag-Net? Was he to snare the Shark, as we do young Pickarels;
or to bridle the Sea-Horse, and ride him for a Pad; or to put a Slip
upon the Crocodile’s Neck, and play with him as with a Dog?_ &c. Sir, I
leave it to you, as a more competent Judge, to set a just Value upon his
Gifts and Elocution. For my Part, to speak freely, dull Sense, in a
phantastick Style, is to me doubly nauseous.

But lest I should cloy you with these luscious Harangues, I will give
you but one more; and ’tis a Miscellany of several Pieces of Wit
together. _Def._ p. 68. _Should twenty Mariners_, says he, _confidently
affirm that they sailed in a Ship from_ Dover _to_ Calais, _by a brisk
Gale out of a Pair of Bellows? Or if forty Engineers should positively
swear, that the Powder-Mill near_ London _was late blown up, by a Mine
then sprung at_ Great Waradin _in_ Hungary, _must they not be grievously
perjur’d Persons?——Or if the Historian that writes the_ Peloponnesian
_War, had told that the Soldiers who fell in it, fought only with
Sun-beams, and single Currants which grew thereabouts, and that hundreds
and thousands were stabb’d with the one, and knocked on the Head with
the other; who would believe that ever there were such Weapons in that
War, that ever there was such a fatal War in that Country? Even so_, &c.
These, Sir, are Flights and Reaches of his Pen, which I dare not
censure, but leave them to your Judgment.

Thus much is to give you a Taste only of his Wit and Eloquence; and if
you like it, you may find more of the same Strain, here and there, in
his Writings. I have only one Thing to mind him of, _that_ he was
desired by the Theorist, _Eng. Theor._ p. 401. to _write in Latin (if he
was a Scholar) as being more proper for a Subject of this Nature_. If he
had own’d and follow’d that Character, I’m apt to think it would have
prevented a great many Impertinences: His Tongue, probably, would not
have been so flippant in popular Excursions and Declamations, as we now
find it. Neither is this any great Presumption or Rashness of Judgment,
if we may guess at his Skill in that Language by his Translations here
and there: _Except,_ _p._ 293. _Cum plurima Religione_ is rendered _with
the Principle of their Religion_. And if he say he followed Sir _W.
Rawleigh_ in his Translation, he that follows a bad Translator, without
Correction or Notice, is suppos’d to know no better himself: And this
will appear the more probable, if we consider another of his
Translations, in this present Work. _Rei Personam_ he translates _the
Representation of the Thing_, instead of the _Person of the Guilty_, or
the Person of him that is _Reus_ not _Actor_: And in this, I dare say,
he was seduc’d by no Example. But lest we should be thought to
misrepresent him, take his own Words, such as they are, _Def._ 168, 169.
_Yea, tho’ it was spoken never so positively, it was but to set forth
REI PERSONAM, to make the more full and lively Representation of the
supposed Thing._ Here, you see, he hath made a double Blunder; first, in
jumbling together _Person_ and _Thing_; then, if they could be jumbled
together, _Rei Persona_ would not signify the _full and lively
Representation of the Thing_, but rather a Disguise or personated
Representation of the Thing. However, I am satisfied from these
Instances, that he had good Reason, notwithstanding the Caution or
Desire of the Theorist to the contrary, to write his Books in his
Mother’s Tongue.

Thus we have done with the first Part, which was to mark out such
Passages, as we thought might probably have enflam’d the Author’s Style
in this Reply: When Men are resolved not to own their Faults, you know
there is nothing more uneasy and vexatious to them, than to see them
plainly discovered and expos’d. We must now give you some Account of the
Contents of his Chapters, so far as they relate to our Subject. _Chap._
i. _Nothing._ _Chap._ II. is against _extraordinary Providence_; or that
the Theorist should not be permitted to have Recourse to it upon any
Occasion. This Recourse to extraordinary Providence being frequently
objected in other Places, and of use to be distinctly understood; we
will speak of it apart at the latter end of the Letter. _Chap._ III. is
about the _Moon’s hindring the Formation of the Earth before she was
formed herself, or in our Neighbourhood_, as we have noted before.
Another Thing in this Chapter, is, his urging _oily_ or _oleaginous_
Particles not to have been in the _Chaos_, but made since: I’ll give a
short Answer to this; either there was or was not _oleaginous_ Matter in
the new-made Earth, (I mean in its superficial Region,) when it came
first out of a _Chaos_? If there was, there was also in the _Chaos_, out
of which that Earth was immediately made: And if there was no oleaginous
Matter in the new-made Earth, how came the Soil to be so fertile, so
fat, so unctuous? I say not only _fertile_, but particularly _fat_ and
_unctuous_: For he uses these very Words frequently in the Description
of that Soil, _Exc._ p. 211. _Def._ p. 69, and p. 98. And all fat and
unctuous Liquors are _oleaginous_; and accordingly we have used those
Words promiscuously, in the Description of that Region: (_Eng. Theor._
_Chap._ V.) understanding only such unctuous Liquors as are lighter than
Water, and swim above it, and consequently would stop and entangle the
terrestrial Particles in their Fall or Descent: And seeing such unctuous
and oleaginous Particles were in the new-made Earth, they must certainly
have been in the Matter out of which it was immediately formed, namely,
in the _Chaos_. All the rest of this Chapter we are willing to leave in
its full Force; apprehending the Theory, or the Answer, to be in no
Danger from such Argumentations or Reflections.

The fourth Chapter is very short, and hath nothing argumentative. The
fifth Chapter is concerning the Cold in the circumpolar Parts, which was
spoken to in the Answer sufficiently, and we stand to that: What is
added about extraordinary Providence, will be treated of in its proper
Place. The sixth Chapter is also short, against this Particular, _that
it is not safe to argue upon Suppositions actually false_. And I think
there needs no more to prove it, than what was said in the Answer. Chap.
VII. is chiefly about Texts of Scripture, concerning which I see no
Occasion of saying any more than what is said in the _Review of the
Theory_. He says, (_p._ 49.) that the Theorist catches himself in a
Trap, by allowing that _Ps._ xxxiii. 7. is to be understood of the
ordinary Posture of the Waters, and yet applying it to their
extraordinary Posture under the Vault of the Earth: But that was not an
extraordinary Posture according to the Theorist, but their natural
Posture in the first Earth: Yet I allow the Expression might have been
better thus, in _a level or spherical Convexity, as the Earth_. He
interprets גן יהוה (_p._ 53.) which we render _the Garden of the Lord_,
Gen. xiii. x. not to be Paradise, but any pleasant Garden; yet gives us
no Authority either of ancient Commentator or Version, for this novel
and paradoxical Interpretation. The Septuagint render it παράδεισος τοῦ
θεοῦ: The _Vulgate_, _Paradisus Domini_, and all ancient Versions that I
have seen, render it to the same Sense. Does he expect then that his
single Word and Authority should countervail all the ancient Translators
and Interpreters? To the last Place alledged by the Theorist, _Prov._
viii. 28. he says, the Answerer charges him unjustly, that he
understands by that Word חון no more than the _Rotundity_ or _spherical
Figure_ of the Abyss; which, he says, is a _Point of Nonsense_: I did
not think the Charge had been so high however, seeing some Interpreters
understand in so: But if he understand by תונ the _Banks_ or _Shores_ of
the sea, then he should have told us how those Banks or Shores are על
פבי תהום _super faciem Abissi_, as it is in the Text.

_Page_ 59. He says the Exceptor does not misrepresent the Theorist when
he makes him to affirm the Construction of the first Earth to have been
merely mechanical; and he cites to this purpose two Places, which only
prove, that the Theorist made use of no other Causes, nor see any Defect
in them; but never affirm’d that these were the only Causes. You may see
his Words to this purpose expressly, _Eng. Theor. p._ 88. whereof the
Exceptor was minded in the _Answer_, p. 3. In the last Paragraph of this
Chapter, _p._ 60. if he affirms any Thing, he will have _the Pillars of
the Earth_ to be understood _literally_. Where then, pray, do these
Pillars stand that bear up the Earth? Or if they bear up the Earth, what
bears them up? What are their Pedestals, or their Foundations? But he
says Hypotheses must not regulate Scripture, though in natural Things,
but be regulated by it, and the by the Letter of it: I would gladly know
then, how his Hypothesis of the Motion of the Earth, is regulated by
Scripture, and by the Letter of it? And he unhappily gives an Instance,
just contrary to himself, namely, of the Anthropomorphites; for they
regulate natural Reason and Philosophy, by the Letter or literal Sense
of Scripture, and therein fall into a gross Error: Yet we must not call
the Author _injudicious_, for fear of giving Offence.

The eighth Chapter, _ibid._ begins with the Earth’s _being carried
directly under the Equinoctial_, before its Change of Situation;
_without any manner of Obliquity in her Site, or Declination towards
either of the Tropicks in HER COURSE._ Here you see, when the Earth
changed its Situation, it chang’d according to his Astronomy, two
Things; its _Site_, and its _Course_; its Site upon its Axis, and its
Course in the Heavens: and so he says again in the next Paragraph, _Put
the Case the Earth shift her Posture, and also her Circuit about the
Sun, in which the persisted till the Deluge_. Here is plainly the same
Notion repeated; that the Earth changed not only its _Site_, but also
its _Road_ or _Course_ about the Sun: And in consequence of this, he
supposes its Course formerly to have been under the Equinoctial, and now
under the Ecliptick; it being translated out of the one into the other,
at its Change. Yet he seems now to be sensible of the Absurdity of this
Doctrine, and therefore will not own it to have been his Sense; and as
an Argument that he meant otherwise, he alledges, that he declared
before, that by the Earth’s right Situation to the Sun, _is meant that
the Axis of the Earth was always kept in a Parallelism to that of the
Ecliptick_, p. 61. But what’s this to the Purpose? This speaks only of
the _Site_ of the Earth, whereas his Error was is supposing its _Course_
or _Annual Orbit_ about the Sun, as well as its Site upon its own Axis,
to have been different, and changed at the Deluge; as his Words already
produced against him, plainly testify.

What follows in this Chapter, is concerning the perpetual Equinox: And
as to the reasoning Part of what he says in Defence of his Exceptions,
we do not grudge him the Benefit of it, let it do him what Service it
can. And as to the historical Part, he will not allow a Witness to be a
good Witness, as to Matter of Fact, if he did not assign true Causes of
that Matter of Fact. To which I only reply, tho’ _Tiverton_ Steeple was
not the Cause of _Goodwin Sands_, as the _Kentish_ Men thought, yet
their Testimony was so far good, that there were such Sands, and such a
Steeple. He also commits an Error as to the Nature of _Tradition:_ When
a Tradition is to be made out, it is not expected that it should be made
appear that none were ignorant of that Tradition in former Ages; or that
all that mentioned it, understood the true Grounds and Extent of it; but
is is enough to shew the plain Footsteps of it in Antiquity, as a
Conclusion, tho’ they did not know the Reasons and Premisses upon which
it depended. For Instance, the Conflagration of the World is a Doctrine
of Antiquity, traditionally deliver’d from Age to Age; but the _Causes_
and _Manner_ of the Conflagration, they either did not know, or have nor
deliver’d to us. In like manner, the first Age and State of the World
was without Change of Seasons, or under a perpetual Equinox: Of this we
see many Footsteps in _Antiquity_, amongst the Jews, Christians,
Heathens, Poets, Philosophers; but the Theory of this perpetual Equinox,
the Causes and Manner of it, we neither find, nor can reasonably expect,
from the Antients: So much for the Equinox.

This Chapter, as it begun with an Error, so it unhappily ends with a
Paralogism; namely, that, _because thirty Days made a Month at the
Deluge, therefore those Days were neither longer nor shorter than ours
are at present_. Tho’ we have sufficiently exposed this before, yet one
thing more may be added, in answer to his confident Conclusion, in these
Words: But to talk, _as the Answerer does, that the Month should be
lengthened by the Days being so, is a fearful Blunder indeed: For let
the Days (by slackening the Earth’s diurnal Motion) have been never so
long, yet (its Annual Motion continuing the same) the Month must needs
have kept its usual Length, only fewer Days would have made it up_. ’Tis
not usual for a Man to persevere so confidently in the same Error, as if
the Intervals of Time, Hours, Days, Months, Years, could not be
proportionably increas’d, so as to contain one another in the same
Proportion they did before, and yet be every one increas’d as to
absolute Duration. Take a Clock, for Instance, that goes too slow; the
Circuit of the Dial-plate is twelve Hours, let these represent the
twelve Signs in his Zodiack, and the Hand to be the Earth that goes
through them all; and consequently, the whole Circuit of the Dial-plate
represents the Year. Suppose, as we said, this Clock to go too slow,
this will not hinder, but still fifteen Minutes make a Quarter in this
Clock, four Quarters make an Hour, and twelve Hours the whole Circuit of
the Dial-plate: But every one of these Intervals will contain more Time
than it did before, according to absolute Duration, or according to the
Measures of another Clock that does not go too slow: This is the very
Case which he cannot or will not comprehend, but concludes thus in
Effect, that because the Hour consists still of four Quarters in this
Clock, therefore it is no longer than ordinary.

The ninth Chapter also begins with a false Notion, that _Bodies
quiescent_ (as he hath now alter’d the Case) _have a Nitency downwards:_
Which Mistake we rectified before, if he please. Then he proceeds to the
_oval_ Figure of the Earth, and many Flourishes and Harangues are made
here to little purpose; for he goes on upon a false Supposition, that
the Waters of the Chaos were made oval by the Weight or Gravitation of
the Air; a Thing that never came into the Words or Thoughts of the
Theorist. Yet upon this Supposition he runs into the _Deserts of
Bilebulgerid_, Def. _p. 85, 86._ and the Waters of _Mare del Zur_; Words
that make a great Noise, but to no Effect. If he had pleas’d he might
have seen the Theorist made no Use of the Weight of the Air upon this
Occasion, by the Instance he gave of the Pressure of the Moon, and the
Flux of the Waters by that Pressure: Which is no more done by the
Gravitation of the Air, than the Banks are prest in a swift Current and
narrow Channel, by the Gravitation of the Water. But he says, rarified
Air makes less Resistance than gross Air; and rarified Water in an
Æolipile, it may be he thinks, presses with less Force than unrarified.
Air possibly may be rarified to that Degree as to lessen its Resistance;
but we speak of Air moderately agitated, so as to be made only more
brisk and active. Moreover, he says, the Waters that lay under the Poles
must have risen perpendicularly, and why might they not, as well have
done so under the Equator? The Waters that lay naturally and originally
under the Poles, did not rise at all; but the Waters became more deep
there, by those that were thrust thither from the middle Parts of the
Globe. Upon the whole, I do not perceive that he hath weaken’d any one
of the Propositions upon which the Formation of an oval Earth depended;
which were these: _First_, That the Tendency of the Waters from the
Centre of this Motion, would be greater and stronger in the Equinoctial
Parts, than in the Polar, or in those Parts where they moved in greater
Circles; and consequently swifter, than in those where they were moved
in lesser Circles and slower. _Secondly_, Agitated Air hath more Force
to repel what presses against it than stagnant Air; and that the Air was
more agitated and rarified under the Equinoctial Parts, than under the
Poles. _Thirdly_, Waters hinder’d and repell’d in their primary
Tendency, take the easiest way they can to free themselves from that
Force, so as to persevere in their Motion. _Lastly_, To flow laterally
upon a Plain, or to ascend upon an inclin’d Plain, is easier than to
rise perpendicularly. These are the Propositions upon which that
Discourse depended, and I do not find that he hath disprov’d any one of
them. And this, Sir, is a short Account of a long Chapter, Impertinences
omitted.

_Chapter_ X. Is concerning the Original and Causes of Mountains, which
the Exceptor unhappily imputes to the Heat and Influence of the Sun.
Whether his Hypothesis be effectually confuted or not, I am very willing
to stand to the Judgment of any unconcern’d Person, that will have the
Patience to compare the _Exceptions_ and the _Answer_, in this Chapter.
Then, as to his _Historical_ Arguments, as he calls them, to prove there
were Mountains before the Flood, from _Giants that saved themselves from
the Flood upon Mount Sion, and Adam’s wandering several hundred of Years
upon the Mountains of India_: These, and such like, which he brought to
prove that there were Mountains before the Flood, he now thinks fit to
renounce, _Def. p. 97._ and says he had done so before by an
_anticipative_ Sentence: But if they were condemn’d before by an
_anticipative_ Sentence, as Fables and Forgeries, why were they stuff’d
into his Book, and us’d as traditional Evidence against the Theory?

_Lastly_, He contends in this Chapter for _Iron_ and _Iron Tools_ before
the Flood, and as early as the Time of _Cain_; because he _built a
City_, which, he says, could not be built without Iron and Iron-Tools:
To which it was answer’d, _Ans. p. 49, 50._ that, _if he fancied that
City of Cain_’s, like _Paris_ or _London_, _he_ had Reason to believe
that they had _Iron-tools_ to make it: But suppose it was a Number of
Cottages, made of Branches of Trees, of Osiers and Bulrushes; or, if you
will, of Mud-Walls, and a Roof of Straw, with a Fence about it to keep
out Beasts, there would be no such Necessity of Iron-Tools.

Consider, pray, how long the World was without knowing the Use of Iron,
in several Parts of it, as in the Northern Countries and _America_, and
yet they had Houses and Cities after their Fashion. And to come nearer
Home, consider what Towns and Cities our Ancestors, the _Britains_, had
in _Cæsar_’s Time, more than two thousand Years after the Time of _Cain:
Com. li. 5. Oppidum Britanni vacant, cum Sylvam impeditam vallo atque
fossa munierant; quo incarsionis hostium nitandæ causa, convenire
consueverunt_: Why might not _Henochia_, _Cain_’s City, be such a City
as this?

And as to the Ark, which he also would make a Proof that there were Iron
and Iron-Tools before the Flood, _Ibid._ ’twas answer’d, that Scripture
does not mention Iron or Iron-Tools in building of the Ark; but only
_Gopher-Wood_ and Pitch: To which re replies, _Def._ p. 103. _If
Scripture’s Silence concerning Things be a Ground of Presumption that
they were not, what then shall we think of an oval and unmountainous
Earth, an inclosed Abyss, a paradisaical World, and the like, which the
Scripture makes no mention of?_ I cannot easily forbear calling this an
_injudicious_ Reflection, tho’ I know he hath been angry with that Word,
and makes it a _Brat of Passion’s_. But I do assure him, I call it so
coolly and calmly. When a Thing is deduc’d by natural Arguments and
Reason, the Silence of Scripture is enough: if he can prove the _Motion
of the Earth_ by natural Arguments, and that Scripture is silent in that
Point, we desire no better Proof. Now in all those Things which he
mentions, an oval and unmountainous Earth, an inclosed Abyss, a
paradisaical World, Scripture is at least silent; and therefore ’tis
natural Arguments must determine these Cases: And this ill reasoning he
is often guilty of, in making no Distinction betwixt Things that are, or
that are not prov’d by natural Arguments, when he appeals to the
Interpretation of Scripture.

_Chap. XI._ Is to prove an open Sea (such as we have now) before the
Flood: All his Exceptions were answered before, _Answ. c._ 11. and I am
content to stand to that Answer, reserving only what is to be said
hereafter concerning the literal Sense of Scripture. However, he is too
lavish in some Expressions here, as when he says, (_p. 115._) That
_Adam_ died _before so much as one Fish appeared in the World:_ And a
little before he had said, _p. 114._ _For Fishes, if his Hypothesis be
believed, were never upon this Earth in Adam’s Time._ These Expressions,
I say, cannot be justified upon any Hypothesis: For why might not the
Rivers of that Earth have Fish in them, as well as the Rivers of this
Earth, or as our Rivers now? I’m sure the _Theory_, or the _Hypothesis_
he mentions, never said any Thing to the contrary, but rather suppos’d
the Waters fruitful, as the Ground was. But as to an _open Sea_, whether
Side soever you take, that there was, or was not any before the Flood; I
believe, however, _Adam_, to his dying Day, never saw either Sea or
Sea-fish, nor ever exercis’d any Dominion over either.

_Chap. XII._ Is concerning the Rainbow, and hath no new Argument in it,
nor Reinforcement: But a Question is moved, whether _as well_
necessarily signifies _as much_. The real Question to be consider’d
here, setting aside Pedantry, is this _whether_ that Thing (Sun or
Rainbow, or any other) could have any Significancy as a Sign, which
signified no more than the bare Promise would have done without a Sign:
This is more material to be consider’d and resolved, than whether _as
well_ and _as much_ signify the same.

_Chap. XIII._ Is concerning Paradise, and to justify or excuse himself
why he baulked all the Difficulties, and said nothing new or instructive
upon that Subject: But he would make the Theorist inconsistent with
himself in that he had said, _Def. p. 125._ that _neither Scripture nor
Reason determine the Place of Paradise; and yet determines it by the
Judgment of Christian Fathers_. Where’s the Inconsistency of this? The
Theory, as a Theory, is not concerned in a _Topical_ Paradise; and says
moreover that neither Scripture, nor Reason, have determin’d the Place
of it; but if we refer our selves to the Judgment and Tradition of the
Fathers, and stand to the Majority of their Votes, (when Scripture and
Reason are silent,) they have so far detetmin’d it, as to place it in
the other Hemisphere, rather than in this, and so exclude that shallow
Opinion of some Moderns, that would place it in _Mesopotamia_: And to
baffle that Opinion was the Design of the Theorist, (as) this Author
also seems to take notice, _p. 131._

After this, and an undervaluing of the Testimonies of the Fathers, he
undertakes to determine the Place of Paradise by Scripture, and
particularly that it was in _Mesopotamia_, or some Region thereabouts.
And his Argument is this, because in the last Verse of the third Chapter
of _Genesis_, the _Cherubims_ and _flaming Sword_ are said to be plac’d
מקדם לגן עדן, which he says is, _to the East of the Garden of Eden_. But
the Septuagint (upon whom he must chiefly depend for the Interpretation
of the Word מקדם in the first Place, _Chap. ii. 8._) read it here
ἀπέναντι τοῦ παραδεῖσου τῆς τρυφῆς; And the _Vulgate_ renders it, _Ante
Paradisum voluptatis_; and according to the _Samaritan_ Pentateuch, ’tis
render’d _ex adverso_. Now, what better Authorities can he bring us for
his Translation? I do not find that he gives any, as his usual Way is,
but his own Authority. And as for the Word מקדם in the second _Chapter_
and eighth _Verse_, which is the principal Place, ’tis well known, that
except the _Septuagint_, all the antient Versions, _Greek_ and _Latin_,
(besides others) render it to another Sense: And there is a like
Uncertainty of Translation in the Word עדן as we have noted elsewhere.
Lastly, the Rivers of Paradise, and the Countries that are said to run
through or encompass, are differently understood by different Authors,
without any Agreement or certain Conclusion: But these are all beaten
Subjects, which you may find in every Treatise of Paradise, and
therefore ’tis not worth the Time to pursue them here.

Then he proceeds to the _Longevity of the Ante-Deluvians_, which, so far
as I can understand him to affirm any Thing, he says, _p. 139._ was not
_general_; but the Lives of some few were _extraordinary, lengthen’d by
a special Blessing; the Elongation being a Work of Providence, not of
Nature_. This is a cheap and vulgar Account, (and so are all the
Contents of this Chapter) prov’d neither by Scripture, nor Reason, and
calculated for the Humour and Capacity of those that love their Ease
more than a diligent Enquiry after Truth. He hath indeed a bold
Assertion afterwards, that _Moses_ does distinguish as much, or more,
betwixt _two Races of Men before the Flood_; the one _Long-Livers_, and
the other _Short-Livers_; as he hath distinguish’d the Giants before the
Flood, from the common Race of Mankind. These are his Words, _p. 141._
_Is not his Distinction equally plain in both Cases?_ Speaking of this
fore-mentioned Distinction: Or, _if there be any Difference, does he not
distinguish better betwixt Long-Livers, and Short-Livers, than he does
betwixt Men of gigantick and of usual Proportion?_ Let’s see the Truth
of this; _Moses_ plainly made mention, _Gen. vi. 4._ of two Races of
Mankind: The ordinary Race, and those of a gigantick Race, or _Giants_.
Now, tell me where he plainly makes mention of _Short-Livers_ before the
Flood: And if he no where makes mention of _Short-Livers_, but of
_Long-Livers_ only, how does he distinguish as plainly of these two
Races, as he did of the other two; for in the other he mentioned plainly
and severally both the Parts or Members of the Distinction, and here he
mentions but one, and makes no Distinction.

Then he comes to the Testimonies cited by _Josephus_ for the Longevity
of the _Ante-Diluvians_, or first Inhabitants of the Earth: And these he
roundly pronounces to be _utterly false_. This Gentleman does not seem
to be much skill’d in Antiquity, either sacred or prophane; and yet he
boldly rejects these Testimonies (as he did those of the Fathers before)
as _utterly false_, _p. 142._ which _Josephus_ had alledged in
Vindication of the History of _Moses_. The only Reason he gives is,
because these Testimonies say, they liv’d a _thousand Years_; whereas
_Moses_ does not raise them altogether so high. But the Question was not
so much concerning the precise Number of their Years, as about the
Excess of them beyond the present Lives of Men, and a round Number in
such Cases is often taken instead of a broken Number. Besides, seeing,
according to the Account of _Moses_, the greater Part of them liv’d
above nine hundred Years, at least he should not have said these
Testimonies in _Josephus_ were _utterly false_, but false in part, or
not precisely true.

Now, he comes to his Reasons against the ante-diluvian Longevity, which
have all had their Answers before, and those we stand to. But I wonder
he should think it reasonable, _p. 144, 145._ that Mankind throughout
all Ages, should increase in the same Proportion as in the first Age:
And, if a decuple Proportion of Increase was reasonable at first, the
same should be continued all along; and the Product of Mankind, after
sixteen hundred Years, should be taken upon that Supposition. I should
not grudge to admit that the first Pair of Breeders might leave ten
Pair; but that every Pair of these ten should also leave ten Pair,
without any Failure: and every Pair in their Children should again leave
ten Pair; and this to be continued, without Diminution or Interruption,
for sixteen hundred Years, is not only a hard Supposition, but utterly
incredible. For still the greater the Number was, the more Room there
would be for Accidents of all Sorts; and every Failure towards the
Beginning, and proportionably in other Parts, would cut off Thousands in
the last Product.

_Chap._ XIV. Is against the Dissolution of the Earth, and the Disruption
of the Abyss at the Deluge, such as the Theory represents. Here is
nothing of new Argument, but some Strokes of railing Wit, after his Way:
He had said in his _Exceptions_, that the _Dissolution of the Earth was
horrid Blasphemy_: Now he makes it _reductive Blasphemy_, as being
_indirectly_, _consequentially_, or _reductively_, p. 153, 154. contrary
to Scripture. By this Rule, we told him, all Errors in Religion would be
Blasphemy; and if he extend this to Errors in Philosophy also, ’tis
still more harsh and injudicious. I wonder how he thinks the Doctrine
which he owns, about the Motion of the Earth, should escape the Charge
of _Blasphemy_; that being not only indirectly, but directly and plainly
contrary to Scripture. We thought that Expression, _the Earth is
dissolved_, being a Scripture Expression, would thereby have been
protected from the Imputation of _Blasphemy_, and we alledged to that
Purpose, (besides _Psal._ lxxv. 3.) _Isa._ xxiv. 19. _Amos_ ix. 5. He
would have done well to have proved these Places in the Prophets
_Isaiah_ and _Amos_, to have been _figurative_ and _tropological_, as he
calls it; for we take them both to relate to the Dissolution of the
Earth, which literally came to pass at the Deluge: And he not having
proved the contrary, we are in Hopes still that the _Dissolution of the
Earth_ may not be _horrid Blasphemy_, nor of _blasphemous Importance_.

Then having quarrell’d with the Guard of Angels, which the _Theorist_
had assign’d for the Preservation of the Ark, in the Time of the Deluge,
he falls next into his Blunder, that the _Equator_ and _Ecliptick_ of
the Earth were interchang’d, when the Situation of the Earth was
chang’d. This Error in the Earth is _Cousin-German_ to his former Error
in the Heavens, _viz._ that the Earth chang’d its Tract about the Sun,
and leap’d out of the _Equator_ into the _Ecliptick_, when it chang’d
its Situation. The Truth is, this _Copernican System_ seems to lie cross
in his Imagination: I think he would do better to let it alone. However,
tho’ at other Times he is generally verbose and long-winded, he hath the
Sense to pass this by in a few Words; laying the Blame upon certain
_Parentheses_ or _Semicircles_, whose Innocency not withstanding we have
fully clear’d, and shew’d the Poison to be spread throughout the whole
Paragraph, which is too great to be made an _Erratum Typographicum_.

Then after, _p. 160, 161._ _Hermus, Caister, Menander and Caius; Nile
and its Mud, Piscenius Niger, who contended with Septimus Severus for
the Empire, and reprimanded his Soldiers for hankering after Wine; Du
Val, an ingenious French Writer, and Cleopatra and her admired Anthony_:
He concludes, that the Waters of the Deluge raged amongst the Fragments,
with _lasting_, _incessant_, and _unimaginable Turbulence_.

And so he comes to an Argument against the Dissolution of the Earth, _p.
162._ That, _all the Buildings erected before the Flood, would have been
shaken down at that Time, or else overwhelmed_. He instanc’d in his
_Exceptions_ in _Seth’s Pillars; Henochia, Cain’s City; and Joppa_:
These he suppos’d such Buildings as were made before, and stood after
the Flood. But now, _Seth_’s Pillars and _Henochia_ being dismiss’d, he
insists upon _Joppa_ only, and says, this must have consisted of _such
Materials, as could never be prepared, formed and set up, without
Iron-Tools_. Tho’ I do not much believe that _Joppa_ was an
ante-diluvian Town, yet whatever they had in _Cain_’s Time, they might,
before the Deluge, have Mortar and Brick, which, as they are the first
stony Materials, that we read of, for Building; so the Ruins of them
might stand after the Deluge. And that they had no other Materials is
the more probable, because after the Flood, at the Building of _Babel_,
_Moses_ plainly intimates that they had no other Materials than those.
For the Text says, _Gen._ xi. 3. _They said one to another, Go to, let
us make Brick and burn them thoroughly; and they made Brick for Stone,
and Slime had they for Mortar._ But now this Argument, methinks, may be
retorted upon the Exceptor with Advantage: For, if there were no
Dissolutions, Concussions, or Absorptions, at the Deluge, instead of the
Ruins of _Joppa_, methinks we might have had the Ruins of an hundred
ante-diluvian Cities; especially, if, according to his Hypothesis, they
had good Stone, and good Iron, and all other Materials, fit for strong
and lasting Building: And, which is also to be consider’d, that it was
but a fifteen-cubit Deluge; so that Towns built upon Eminences or high
Lands, would be in little Danger of being ruin’d, much less of being
abolish’d.

His last Argument, (_p. 163._) proves, if it prove any Thing, that God’s
Promise, that _the World_ should not be _drown’d_ again, was a _vain and
trifling Thing_ to us, who know it must be burn’d: And consequently, if
_Noah_ understood the Conflagration of the World, he makes it a _vain
and trifling Thing_ to _Noah_ also. If the Exceptor delight in such
Conclusions, let him enjoy them, but they are not at all to the Mind of
the Theorist.

_Chapter_ XV. Now we come to his new Hypothesis of a _fifteen-cubit
Deluge_; and what Shifts he hath made to destroy the World with such a
diminutive Flood, we have noted before: First, by raising his
Water-Mark, and making it uncertain: Then by converting the Deluge, in a
great Measure into a _Famine_: And, Lastly, by destroying Mankind and
other Animals, with _evil Angels_. We shall now take notice of some
other Incongruities in his Hypothesis. When he made _Moses_’s Deluge but
_fifteen Cubits deep_, we said that was an _unmerciful Paradox_, and
ask’d whether he would have it receiv’d as a _Postulatum_, or as a
_Conclusion_. All he answers to this, is, that the same Question may be
ask’d concerning several Parts of the Theory; _p. 166._ Particularly,
that the primitive Earth had no _open Sea_. Whether is that, says he, to
be receiv’d as a _Postulatum_, or as a _Conclusion_? The Answer is
ready, as a _Conclusion_, deduced from Premisses, and a Series of
antecedent Reasons. Now, can he make this Answer for his fifteen-cubit
Deluge? Must not that still be a _Postulatum_, and an unmerciful one? As
to the Theory, there is but one _Postulatum_ in all, _viz._ that the
_Earth rise from a Chaos_. All the other Propositions are deduc’d from
Premisses, and that one _Postulatum_ also is prov’d by Scripture and
Antiquity. We had noted further in the Answer, that the Author had said
in his Exceptions, that he would not defend his Hypotheses as _true_ and
_real_; and we demanded thereupon, _Why_ then did he trouble himself or
the World with what he did not think _true_ and _real_? To this he
replies, _Many have written ingenious and useful Things, which they
never believ’d to be true and real_. Romances suppose, and poetical
Fictions: Will you have your fifteen-cubit Deluge pass for such? But
then the Mischief is, where there is neither Truth of Fact, nor
Ingenuity of Invention, such a Composition will hardly pass for a
Romance, or a good Fiction. But there is still a greater Difficulty
behind. The Exceptor hath unhappily said, _Exc. p. 302. Our Supposition
stands supported by Divine Authority, as being founded upon Scripture;
which tells us as plainly as it can speak, that the Waters prevailed but
fifteen Cubits upon the Earth_. Upon which Words the Answerer made this
Remark, _Ans. p. 67. If his Hypothesis be founded upon Scripture, and
upon Scripture as plainly as it can speak, why will he not defend it as
TRUE and REAL? For to be supported by Scripture, and by plain Scripture,
is as much as we can alledge for the Articles of our Faith_. To this he
replies now, _Def. p. 168._ that he _begg’d Allowance at first, to make
bold with Scripture a little_: This is a bold Excuse, and he especially,
one would think, should take heed how he makes bold with Scripture,
lest, according to his own Notion, he fall into _Blasphemy_, or
something of _blasphemous Importance, indirectly, consequentially,_ or
_reductively_, at least: However, this Excuse, if it was a good one,
would take no Place here; for to understand and apply Scripture, in that
Sense that it speaks _as plainly as it can speak_, is not to make bold
with it, but modestly to follow its Dictates and plain Sense.

He feels this Load to lie heavy upon him, and struggles again to shake
it off with a Distinction. When he said his fifteen-cubit Deluge was
_supported by Divine Authority_, &c. this, he says, _ibid._ was spoken
_by him, in an hypothetick or suppositious Way, and that it cannot
possibly be understood otherwise by Men of Sense_. Here are two hard
Words: Let us first understand what they signify, and then we shall
better judge how Men of Sense would understand his Words. His
_hypothetick_ or _suppositious Way_, so far as I understand it, is the
same Thing as by _way of Supposition_: Then his Meaning is, he
_supposes_ his fifteen-cubit Deluge is _supported by Divine Authority_;
and he _supposes_ it is _founded upon Scripture, as plainly as it can
speak_: But this is to suppose the Question, and no Man of Sense would
make or grant such a Supposition; so that I do not see what he gains by
this _hypothetick_ and _suppositious Way_. But to draw him out of this
Mist of Words, either he affirms this, that his _Hypothesis is supported
by Divine Authority, and founded upon Scripture as plainly as it can
speak_, or he denies it, or he doubts of it: If he affirm it, then all
his Excuses and Diminutions are to no purpose, he must stand to his
Cause, and shew us those plain Texts of Scripture; if he deny it, he
gives up his Cause, and all that Divine Authority he pretended to; if he
doubt of it, then he should have express’d himself doubtfully: As,
_Scripture may admit of that Sense, or may be thought to intimate such a
thing_, but he says with a Plerophory, _Scripture speaks it as plainly
as it can speak_: And to mend the Matter, he unluckily subjoins in the
following Words, _p._ 168, 169. _Yea, tho’ it was spoken never so
positively, it was but to set forth REI PERSONAM: To make a more full
and lively Representation of the supposed thing._ He does well to tell
us what he means by _Rei Personam_; for otherwise no Man of Sense, as
his Phrase is, would ever have made that Translation of those Words. But
the Truth is, he is so perfectly at a Loss how to bring himself off, as
to this Particular, that in his Confusion, he neither makes good Sense
nor good _Latin_.

Now he comes to another Inconsistency which was charg’d upon him by the
_Answerer_: Namely, that he rejects the _Church Hypothesis_ concerning
the Deluge, and yet had said before, _Exc._ _p._ 300. _I cannot believe
(which I cannot well endure to speak) that the Church hath ever gone on
in an irrational Way of explaining the Deluge_: That he does reject this
Church Hypothesis, was plainly made out from his own Words, because he
rejects the _common Hypothesis_; (_see the Citation in the Answer_, _p._
68.) the _general standing Hypothesis_; the _usual Hypothesis_; the
_usual Sense they put upon Sacred Story_, &c. These Citations he does
not think fit to take Notice of in his Reply; but puts all upon this
general Issue, which the _Answerer_ concludes with: _The Church Way of
explaining the Deluge, is either rational or irrational: If he say it is
rational, why does he desert it, and invent a new one: And if he say it
is irrational, then that dreadful thing, which he cannot well endure to
speak, that the Church of God hath ever gone on in an irrational Way of
explaining the Deluge, falls flat upon himself._ Let’s hear his Answer
to this Dilemma. _Def._ p. 170. _We say_, says he, _that the Church Way
of explaining the Deluge_, (by creating and annihilating Waters for the
Nonce) _is very rational_. Then say I still, why do you desert it, or
why do you trouble us with a new one? Either his Hypothesis is more
rational than the Church Hypothesis, or less rational: If less rational,
why does he take us off from a better, to amuse us with a worse? But if
he say, his Hypothesis is more rational than that of the Church: Then
Woe be to him, in his own Words, _p._ 171. that so _black a Blemish
should be fasten’d upon the wisest and noblest Society in the World_, as
to make himself more wise than they, and his Hypothesis more rational
than theirs. The Truth is, this Gentleman hath a mind to appear a
_Virtuoso_, for the new Philosophy, and the _Copernican_ System; and yet
would be a Zealot for Orthodoxy, and the Church-Way of explaining
Things: Which two Designs do not well agree, as to the natural World;
and betwixt two Stools he falls to the Ground, and proves neither good
Churchman, nor good Philosopher.

But he will not still be convinc’d that he deserts the Church
Hypothesis, and continues to deny the Desertion in these Words. _Ibid._
_We say we do not desert or reject the Church-Way of explaining the
Deluge._ Now, to discover whether these Words are true or false; let us
observe, _First_, What he acknowledges to have said against the Church
Hypothesis: _Secondly_, What he hath said more than what he acknowledges
here. He acknowledges, that he said, the Church Hypothesis _might be
disgustful to the best and soundest philosophick Judgments_; and this is
no good Character. Yet this is not all, for he hath fairly dropp’d a
principal Word in his Sentence, namely, _justly_, _Exc._ p. 312. His
Words in his _Exceptions_, were these, _such Inventions_ (which he
applies to the Church Hypothesis) _as have been, and JUSTLY may be
disgustful, not only to nice and squeamish, but to the best and soundest
philosophick Judgments_. Now judge, whether he cited this Sentence
before, truly and fairly, and whether in these Words, truly cited, he
does not disparage the Church Hypothesis, and justify those that are
disgusted at it.

He farthermore acknowledges, that the usual Ways of explaining the
Deluge _seem unreasonable to some, and unintelligible to others, and
unsatisfactory to the most_: But, it seems, he will neither be of these,
_some_, _others_, or _most_. Lastly, He acknowledges that he said,
_Def._ p. 171. _The ordinary Supposition, that the Mountains were
covered with Waters in the Deluge, brings on a Necessity of setting up a
new Hypothesis for explaining the Flood._ If so, what was this _ordinary
Supposition_? was it not the Supposition of the Church? And was that
such, as made it necessary to set up a new Hypothesis for explaining the
Flood? then the old Hypothesis was insufficient or irrational.

Thus much he acknowledges; but he omits what we noted before, his
rejecting or disapproving the _common Hypothesis_, the _general standing
Hypothesis_, the _usual Sense they put upon the Sacred Story_, &c. And
do not all these Phrases denote the Church Hypothesis? He farther omits,
that he confess’d, (_Excep._ _p._ 325.) _he had expounded a Text or two
of Scripture about the Deluge, so as none ever did; and, deserting the
common receiv’d Sense, puts an unusual Gloss upon them_. And is not that
_common receiv’d Sense_ the Sense of the Church, and his _unusual Gloss_
contrary to it? Lastly, he says, by his Hypothesis, we need not fly to a
_new Creation of Waters_, and gives his Reasons at large against that
Opinion; which you may see, _Except._ _p._ 313. Now, those Reasons he
thought either to be _good_ Reasons or _bad_ Reasons; if _bad_, why did
he set them down, or why did he not confuse them? If good, they stand
good against the Hypothesis of the Church; for he makes that _new
Creation_ and _Annihilation_ of Waters at the Deluge to be the
Hypothesis of the Church, _Def._ _p._ 170. I fear I have spent too much
Time in shewing him utterly inconsistent with himself in this
Particular. And I wonder he should be so sollicitous to justify the
Hypothesis of the Church in this Point, seeing he openly dissents from
it in a greater; I mean in that of the _System of the World_. Hear his
Words, if you please, to this Purpose, _Def._ _p._ 136. _And what does
the famous_ Aristotelian _Hypothesis seem to be now, but a Mass of
Errors; where such a System was contriv’d for the Heavens, and such a
Situation assign’d to the Earth, as neither Reason can approve, nor
Nature allow. Yet so prosperous and prevailing was this Hypothesis, that
it was generally receiv’d, and successfully propagated for many Ages._
This prosperous prevailing Error, or Mass of Errors, was it not espoused
and supported by the Church? And to break from the Church in greater
Points, and scruple it in less, is not this to strain at Gnats, and
swallow Camels?

So much for his Inconsistency with himself: The rest of this Chapter in
the _Answer_, shews his Inconsistency with _Moses_, both as to the
Waters covering the Tops of the Mountains, which _Moses_ affirms, and
the Exceptor denies; and as to the Decrease of the Deluge, which _Moses_
makes to be by the Waters retiring into their Chanels, after frequent
Reciprocations, _going_ and _coming_. But the Exceptor says, the Sun
suck’d up the Waters from the Earth, just as he had before suck’d the
Mountains out of the Earth: These Things are so groundless, or so gross,
that it would be tedious to insist longer upon them. And whereas it is
not reasonable to expect that any others should be idle enough, as we
must be, to collate three or four Tracts, to discern where the Advantage
lies in these small Altercations; I desire only, if they be so dispos’d,
that they would collate the _Exceptions_, _Answer_, and _Defence_ in
this one Chapter, which is our Author’s Master-Piece: And from this I am
willing they should take their Measures, and make a Judgment of his good
or bad Success in other Parts.

What Shifts he hath us’d to make his _fifteen-cubit Deluge_ sufficient
to destroy all Mankind, and all Animals, we have noted before; and here
it is (_p._ 181, 182.) that he reduces them to _Famine_. And after that
he comes to a long Excursion of seven or eight Pages, about the
Imperfection of _Shipping_ after the Flood, _Def._ _p._ 183, 185, _&c._
a good Argument for the Theorist, that they had not an open Sea,
Iron-Tools, and Materials for Shipping before the Flood: For what should
make them so inexpert in Navigation for many Years and Ages after the
Flood, if they had the Practice and Experience of it before the Flood:
And what could hinder their having that Practice and Experience, if they
had an open Sea, and all Iron and other Materials, for that Use and
Purpose?

Lastly, he comes to his Notion of the _great Deep_, or _Tehom-Rabbah_,
_Def._ _p._ 191. which he had made before, in express Words, to be the
Holes and Caverns in the Rocks; I say, in express Words, such as these,
_Exc._ _p._ 312. _Now supposing that the Caverns in the Mountains were
this great Deep_, speaking of _Moses’s great Deep_, according to this
new Hypothesis. He says farther, (_p._ 105.) _In case it be urg’d, that
Caverns, especially Caverns so high situate, cannot properly he called
the great Deep._ Where you see his own Objection supposes that he made
those Caverns the _great Deep_. And in the same Page, speaking of the
Psalmist’s _great Deeps_, (in his own Sense of making them Holes in
Rocks,) and _Moses_’s _great Deep_, he says, _the same Thing might be
meant by both_. By all these Expressions one would think it plain, that
by his _great Deep_ he meant his _Caverns_ in Rocks; yet now, upon
Objections urged against it, he seems desirous to fly off from that
Notion, but does not yet tell us plainly what must be meant by _Moses_’s
_great Deep_: If he, upon second Thoughts, would have the Sea to be
understood by it, why does he not answer the Objections that are made by
the Theorist against that Interpretation? _Engl. Theor._ p. 110, _&c._
Nay, why does he not answer what he himself had objected before
(_Except._ p. 310.) against that Supposition? He seems to unsay now,
what he said before, and yet substitutes nothing in the Place of it, to
be understood by _Moses’s Tehom. Rabbah_.

_Chap._ XVI. is a few Words concerning these Expressions of _shutting
the Windows of Heaven_, and the _Fountains of the Abyss_, after the
Deluge: And these were both shut alike, and both of them no less than
the _Caverns_ in the Mountains.

_Chap._ XVII. hath nothing of Argumentation or Philosophy, but runs on
in a popular declamatory Way, and (if I may use that forbidden Word)
injudicious. All amounts to this, _whether_ we may not go contrary to
the Letter of Scripture, in natural Things, when that goes contrary to
plain Reason. This we affirm, and this every one must affirm, that
believes the _Motion of the Earth_, as our Virtuoso pretends to do: Then
he concludes all with an harmonious Close, that he follows the great
Example of a Reverend Prelate, _Def._ p. 215. and _militates under that
Episcopal Banner_. I am willing to believe that he wrote at first, in
hopes to curry Favour with certain Persons, by his great Zeal for
Orthodoxy; but he hath made such an Hotch-potch of new Philosophy and
Divinity, that I believe it will scarce please the Party he would
cajole; nor so much as his Reverend Patron. I was so civil to him in the
Answer, as to make him a Saint in comparison of the former Animadverter;
but, by the Stile and Spirit of this last Pamphlet, he hath forfeited
with me all his Saint-ship, both absolute and comparative.

Thus much for his Chapters; and as to his Reflections upon the _Review
of the Theory_, they are so superficial and inconsiderable, that I
believe he never expected that they should be regarded: I wonder
however, that he should decline an Examination of the second Part of the
_Theory_: It cannot be for want of good Will to confute it; he hath
shewn that to the Height, whatsoever his Power was: Neither can it be
for want of Difference or Disagreement in Opinion, as to the Contents of
this latter Part; for he hath reckon’d the _Millennium_ amongst the
Errors of the antient _Fathers_, (_Def._ p. 136) and the _Renovation of
the World_ he makes _Allegorical_, (p. 214, _&c._) It must therefore be
for want of some third Thing, which he best knows.

But before we conclude, Sir, we must remember that we promised to speak
apart to two Things, which are often objected to the Theorist by this
Writer, and to little Purpose; namely, his flying to _extraordinary
Providence_, and his flying from the _literal Sense_ of Scripture. As to
extraordinary Providence, is the Theorist alone debarr’d from recourse
to it, or would he have all Men debarr’d, as well as the Theorist? If
so, why doth he use it so much himself? And if it be allow’d to others,
there is no Reason it should be deny’d the Theorist, unless he have
disown’d it, and so debarr’d himself that common Privilege: But the
contrary is manifest, in a multitude of Places, both of the first and
second Part of the _Theory_, Eng. Theor. _p._ 144, _&c._ For, besides a
Discourse on Purpose upon that Subject, in the eighth _Chapter_ of the
first Book, in the last Chapter, and last Words of the same Book
(_Latin_) he does openly avow, both Providence (Natural and Moral) and
Miracles; in these Words, _Denique cum certissimum sit à divina
Providentia pendere res omnes, cujuscunque ordinis, & ab eâdem vera
miracula edita esse_, &c. And as to the second Part of the _Theory_, the
Ministry of Angels is there acknowledg’d frequently, both as to natural
and moral Administrations. From all which Instances it is manifest, that
the Theorist did not debar himself, by denying either _Miracles_,
_angelical Ministry_, or _extraordinary Providence_: But, if the
Exceptor be so injudicious (pardon me that bold Word) as to confound all
extraordinary Providence with the _Acts of Omnipotency_, he must blame
himself for that, not the Theorist. The _Creation_ and _Annihilation_ of
Waters is an Act of pure Omnipotency: This the Theorist did not admit of
at the Deluge; and if this be his Fault, as it is frequently objected to
him, (_Def._ p. 9, 66, 170, _&c._) he perseveres in it still, and in the
Reasons he gave for his Opinion, which are no where confuted: _Eng.
Theor._ p. 25, 26. But as for Acts of angelical Power, he does every
where acknowledge them in the great Revolutions, even of the natural
World: _Theor. Lat._ p. 73. _Engl._ p. 146, 147. If the Exceptor would
make the Divine Omnipotency as cheap as the Ministry of Angels, and have
recourse as freely and as frequently to that, as to this; if he would
make all extraordinary Providence the same, and all Miracles, and set
all at the Pitch of infinite Power, this may be an Effect of his
Ignorance or Inadvertency, but is no way imputable to the Theorist.

In the next Place it may be observ’d, that the Theorist hath no where
asserted, that _Moses_’s _Cosmopœia_ (which does not proceed according
to ordinary Providence) is to be literally understood; and therefore
what is urg’d against him from the Letter of that _Cosmopœia_, is
improperly urg’d and without Ground. There are as good Reasons, and
better Authorities, that _Moses_’s _six Days Creation_ should not be
literally understood, than there are, why those Texts of Scripture that
speak about the _Motion of the Sun_, should not be literally understood:
And as to the Theorist, he had often intimated his Sense of that
_Cosmopœia_, that it was express’d _more humano, & ad captum populi_, as
appears in several Passages in the _Latin_ Theory: Speaking of the
_Mosaical Cosmogonia_, he hath these Words, _Theor._ _lib._ 2. _c._ 8.
_Constat hæc Cosmopœia duabus parcibus quarum prima, massas generales
atque rerum inconditarum statum exbibet; seqniturque eadem principia, &
eundem ordinem, quem Antiqui usque retinuerunt. Atque in hoc nobiscium
conveniunt omnes fere interpretes Christiani; nempe_, Tohu Bohu
_Mosaicum idem esse ac Chaos Antiquorum_. _Tenebras Mosaicas_, &c.
_bucusque convenit Mosi cum anfiquis Philosophis,——methodium autem illam
Philosophicam hic abrumpit, aliamque orditur, bumanam, aut, si mavis,
Theologicam; quo, motibus Chaos, secundum leges natura, & divini amoris
actionem, plane neglectis, & successivis ipsius mutationibus in varias
regiones, & elementa: His inquam posthabitis, popularem narrationem de
ortu rerum hoc modo instituit: Res omnes visibiles in sex classes_, &c.
This is a plain Indication how the Theorist understood that _Cosmopœia_:
And accordingly in the _English Theory_ the Author says, _p._402. &c. _I
have not mention’d_ Moses_’s_ Cosmopœia, _because I thought it deliver’d
by him as a Law-giver, not as a Philosopher; which I intend to shew at
large in another Treatise, not thinking that Discussion proper for the
vulgar Tongue_. The Exceptor was also minded of this in the Answer, _p._
66. Now, ’tis much that he, who hath search’d all the Corners, both of
the _English_ and _Latin_ Theory, to pick Quarrels, should never observe
such obvious Passages as these, but still make Objections from the
Letter of the _Mosaical Cosmopœia_, which affect the Theorist no more
than those Places of Scripture that speak of the Motion of the Sun, or
the Pillars of the Earth.

In the last Place, the Theorist distinguish’d two Methods for explaining
the natural World, that of an _ordinary_, and that of an _extraordinary
Providence_: And those that take the second Way, he said, might dispatch
their Task as soon as they pleas’d, if they engag’d Omnipotency in the
Work. But the other Method would require Time, it must proceed by
distinct Steps, and leisurely Motions, such as Nature can admit; and, in
that Respect, it might not suit with the busy Lives, or impatient
Studies of most Men, whom he left notwithstanding to their Liberty, to
take what Method they pleas’d, provided they were not troublesome in
forcing their hasty Thoughts upon all others. Thus the Theorist hath
express’d himself at the End of the first Book, _c._ 12. _Interea cum
non omnes a natura ita compositi simus, ut Philosophia studiis
delectemur: Neque etiam liceat multis, propter occupationes vitæ, iisdem
vacare, quibus per ingenium licuisset; iis jure permittendum est,
compendiario sapere, & relictis viis naturæ & causarum secundarum, quæ
sæpe longiusculæ sunt, per cansas superiores philosophari; idque
potissimum, cum ex piis affectivus hoc quandoque fieri possit; quibus,
vel male fundatis, aliquid dandum esse existimo, modo non sint
turbulenti._ Thus the Theorist, you see, sets two Ways before them; and
’tis indifferent to him whether they take, if they will go on their Way
peaceably. And he does now, moreover, particularly declare, That he hath
no Ambition, either to make the _Exceptor_, or any other of the same
Dispositions of Will, and the same Elevation of Understanding,
Proselytes to his Theory.

Thus much for _Providence_: As to the _literal Sense_ of Scripture, I
find, if what was noted before in the _Answer_, _p._ 82, 83, _&c._ had
been duly consider’d, there would be little need of Additions upon that
Subject. The Matter was stated freely and distinctly, and the Remarks or
Reflections which the Exceptor hath made in his _Defence_ upon this
Doctrine, are both shallow and partial. I say _partial_, in perverting
the Sense, and separating such Things as manifestly depend upon one
another. Thus the Exceptor falls upon that Expression in the _Answer_,
_Def._ _p._ 202. _Let us remember that this contradicting Scripture,
here pretended, is only in natural Things_, where he should have added
the other Part of the Sentence, _and also observe how for the Exceptor
himself, in such Things, hath contradicted Scripture_. Here he makes an
odious Declamation, as if the Answerer had confess’d that he
_contradicted Scripture in natural Things_; whereas the Words are
contradicting Scripture, _here pretended_; and ’tis plain by all the
Discourse, that ’tis the literal Sense of Scripture that is here spoken
of, which the Exceptor is also said to contradict. Such an unmanly
Captiousness shews the Temper and Measure of that Spirit, which, rather
than say nothing, will misrepresent the plain Sense of an Author. In
like manner, when he comes to those Words in the Answer, The Case
therefore is this, whether _to go contrary to the Letter of Scripture in
Things that relate to the natural World, be destroying the Foundation of
Religion, affronting Scripture, and blaspheming the Holy Ghost. Def. p._
206. He says, This is not to state the Case truly, for it is not, says
he, _going contrary to the Letter of Scripture that draws such evil
Consequences after it, but going contrary to the Letter of Scripture,
where it is understood_: And _this the Theorist does_, he says, and the
_Exceptor does not_. But who says so besides himself? This is fairly to
beg the Question; and can he suppose the Theorist so easy as to grant
this without Proof? It must be the Subject Matter that determines, what
is, and what is not, to be literally understood. However, he goes on,
begging still the Question in his own behalf, and says, Those Texts of
Scripture, that speak of the Motion and Course of the Sun, are not to be
understood literally. But why not? Because the literal Sense is not to
his Mind? Of four Texts of Scripture which the Theorist alledg’d against
him, for the Motion of the Sun, he answers but one, and that very
superficially, to say no worse. ’Tis _Psal._ xix. where the Sun at his
rising is said to be as a _Bridegroom coming out of his Chamber, and to
rejoice as a strong Man to run his Race: And his going forth is from the
end of the Heaven, and his Circuit to the end of it_, p. 207. which he
answers with this vain Flourish: _Then the Sun must be a Man, and must
be upon his Marriage, and must be dress’d in fine Clothes, as a
Bridegroom is: Then he must come out of a Chamber, and must give no more
Light, and cast no more Heat, than a Bridegroom does_, &c. If a Man
should ridicule at this rate, the Discourse of our Saviour concerning
_Lazarus_ in _Abraham_’s Bosom, and _Dives_ in Hell, with a great Gulph
betwixt them, yet talking audibly to one another; _Luk._ xvi. and that
_Lazarus_ should be sent so far, as from Heaven to Hell, only to _dip
the Tip of his Finger in Water_, and cool _Dives_’s Tongue. He that
should go about thus to expose our Saviour’s Parable, would have a
thankless Office, and effect nothing: For the Substance of it would
stand good still; namely, that Mens Souls live after Death, and that
good Souls are in a State of Ease and Comfort, and bad Souls in a State
of Misery. In like manner, his ridiculing some Circumstances in the
Comparison made by the Psalmist, does not at all destroy the Substance
of that Discourse; namely, that the Sun moves in the Firmament, with
great Swiftness and Lustre, and hath the Circuit of its Motion round the
Earth. This is the Substance of what the Psalmist declares, and the rest
is but a Similitude, which need not be literally just in all
Particulars.

After this, he would fain persuade the Theorist, that he hath excused
the Exceptor for his receding from the literal Sense, as to the Motion
of the Earth; _Def._ p. 208. Because he hath granted, that in certain
Cases, we may and must recede from the literal Sense. But where, pray,
hath he granted, that the Motion of the Earth was one of those Cases?
Yet suppose it be so, may not the Theorist then enjoy this Privilege of
receding from the literal Sense upon occasion, as well as the Exceptor?
If he will give, as well as take this Liberty, let us mutually enjoy it;
but he can have no Pretence to deny it to others, and take it himself.
It uses to be a Rule in Writing, that a Man must not _stultum fingere
Lectorem_. You must suppose your Reader to have common Sense. But he
that accuses another of _Blasphemy_ for receding from the literal Sense
of Scripture in natural Things, and does himself at the same Time,
recede from the literal Sense of Scripture, in natural Things; one would
think, _quo ad hoc_, either had not, or would not exercise common Sense,
in a literal Way.

Lastly, he comes to the common known Rule, assign’d to direct us, when
every one ought to follow, or leave the literal Sense; which is, _p.
215. not to leave the literal Sense, when the Subject Matter will bear
it, without Absurdity or Incongruity_. This he repeats in the next Page
thus. The Rule is, _when no kind of Absurdities or Incongruities accrue
to any Texts, from the literal Sense_. If this be _his_ Rule, to what
Text does there accrue any Absurdity or Incongruity, by supposing the
Sun to move? For Scripture always speaks upon that Supposition, and not
one Word for the Motion of the Earth. Thus he states the Rule; but the
_Answerer_ supposed, that the Absurdity or Incongruity might arise from
the _Subject Matter_. And accordingly he still maintains, that there are
as just Reasons, (from the Subject Matter,) and better Authorities, for
receding from the literal Sense in the Narrative of the six Days
Creation, than in those Texts of Scripture, that speak of the Motions
and Course of the Sun: And to affirm the _Earth to be mov’d_, is as much
_Blasphemy_, and more contrary to Scripture, than to affirm it to have
been _dissolv’d_, as the Theorist hath done.

Sir, I beg your Excuse for this long letter, and leave it to you to
judge whether the Occasion was just or no. I know such Jarrings as these
must needs make bad Musick to your Ears: ’Tis like hearing two
Instruments play, that are not in Tune, in Concert with one another: But
you know Self-Defence, and to repel an Assailant, is always allow’d; and
he that begins the Quarrel, must answer for the Consequences. However,
Sir, to make amends for this I trouble, I am ready to receive your
Commands upon more acceptable Subjects.

_Your most humble Servant_, &c.

FINIS.




                REFLECTIONS UPON THE THEORY OF THE EARTH


               REFLECTIONS UPON THE THEORY OF THE EARTH,

                            Occasion’d by a

                      _Late_ EXAMINATION _of it_.

                      _In a_ LETTER _to a_ FRIEND.

                               _LONDON:_

            Printed for J. HOOKE, at the _Flower-de-Luce_ in
                      _Fleet-Street_. M.DCC.XXVI.




                    Advertisement of the Bookseller.


_The following Tract hath been much enquired after by some curious
Persons, but was so scarce, that a Copy could not be procured at the
Time of the Printing the former Edition of the Theory. Since that, an
intimate Friend of Dr. Burnet’s hath favoured me with a Copy; so that
the Reader may be assured, it it genuine, and was wrote by Dr. Burnet;
and it is apprehended, it may very well deserve a Place in his Works._


                           REFLECTIONS, _&c._


Sir,


I Receiv’d the Honour of your Letter, with the Book you was pleas’d to
send me, containing an Examination of _the Theory of the Earth:_ And,
according as you desire, I shall give you my Thoughts of it, in as
narrow a Compass as I can. The Author of the _Theory_, you know, hath
set down in three Propositions, the Foundation of the whole Work; and so
long as those Propositions stand firm, the Substance of the _Theory_ is
safe, whatsoever becomes of particular Modes of Explication in some
Parts; which are as Problems, and may be explained several Ways, without
prejudice to the Principles upon which the _Theory_ stands.

The Theorist takes but one single Postulatum, _viz._ That the _Earth
rose from a Chaos:_ This is not call’d into Question; and this being
granted, he lays down three Propositions consecutively. First, _That the
primitive or ante-diluvian Earth was of a different Form and
Construction from the present Earth_. Secondly, _That the Face of that
Earth, as it rose from a Chaos, was smooth, regular and uniform; without
Mountains or Rocks, and without an open Sea_. Thirdly, _That the
Disruption of the Abyss, or Dissolution of that primeval Earth, and its
Fall into the Abyss, was the Cause of the universal Deluge, and of the
Destruction of the old World_: As also of the irregular Form of the
present Earth.

These are the three Fundamental Propositions laid down in the fourth,
fifth and sixth Chapters of the _Theory_. And for a farther Proof and
Confirmation of them, especially of the last, another Proposition is
added (_Chap._ VII.) in these Words, _The present Form and Structure of
the Earth, both as to the Surface, and as to the interior Parts of it,
so far as they are accessible and known to us, do exactly answer to the
foregoing Theory, concerning the Form and Dissolution of the first
Earth, and is not so justly explained to any other Hypothesis yet
known._ This is offer’d as a Proof _à Posteriori_, as they call it, or
from the Effects; to shew the Consent and Agreement of the Parts and
Construction of the present Earth, to that Supposition of its being a
sort of Ruin, or the Effect and Remains of a Disruption or Dissolution.
And to make this good, the Theorist draws a short Scheme of the general
Form of the present Earth, and its Irregularity: Then shews more
particularly the Marks or Signatures of Ruin or Disruption in several
Parts of it; as in Mountains and Rocks, in the great Chanel of the Sea,
and in subterraneous Cavities, and other broken and disfigur’d Parts of
the Earth.

These Conclusions, with their Arguments, are the Sum and principal
Contents of the first Book; but I must also mind you of a Corollary in
the second Book, drawn from these primary Propositions, which concerns
the Situation of the primitive Earth: For the Theorist supposes, that
the Posture of that Earth, or of its Axis, was not oblique to to the
Axis of the Sun, or of the Ecliptick, as it is now, but lay parallel
with the Axis of the Sun, and perpendicular to the Plane of the
Ecliptick; by reason of which Position, there was a perpetual Spring, or
perpetual Equinox, in that primitive Earth. This, tho’ a Consequence
only from the first Propositions, I thought fit to mind you of, as being
one of the peculiar and distinguishing Characters of this _Theory_.

This being the State of the _Theory_, or of those Parts of it that
support the rest, and wherein its Strength consists, he that will attack
it to purpose, must throw down, in the first Place, these leading
Propositions. If the Examiner had taken this Method, and confuted the
Proofs that are brought in Confirmation of each of them, he needed have
done no more; for the Foundation being destroyed, the Superstructure
would fall of its own accord. But if, instead of this, you only pick out
a loose Stone here or there, or strike off a Pinacle, this will not
weaken the Foundation, nor have any considerable Effect upon the whole
Building. Let us therefore consider, in the first Place, what this
Examiner hath said against these fundamental Propositions, and
accordingly you will better judge of the rest of his Work.

His first Chapter is to shew, that the Deluge might be made by a
Miracle: But whoever denied that? No doubt God by his Omnipotency may do
whatsoever he pleases, to the utmost Extent of Possibilities. But he
does not tell us wherein this Miracle consisted? Doth he suppose that
the Deluge could be made without any Increase of Waters upon the Earth?
If there was an Increase of Waters, either they were created a-new, or
brought thither from some other Part of the Universe: So far is plain;
and if he supposes a new Creation of Waters for this Purpose, and an
Annihilation of them again at the end of the Flood, it had been fair to
have answered the Arguments that are given against that Hypothesis, in
the third Chapter of the _English Theory_. And seeing there is no
mention made of any such thing in the sacred History, if he asserts it,
he must bring some Proof of his Assertion; for we are not upon such
Terms, as to trust upon bare Word. On the other Hand, if he proceed upon
such Waters as were already in being, and for his purpose either bring
down supercelestial Water, or bring subterraneous, he must tell us what
those Waters are, and must answer such Objections as are brought against
either sort in the second and third Chapters of the _Theory_; we must
have some fix’d Point, some Mark to aim at, if the Case be argued. Upon
the whole, I think this his first Chapter might have been spar’d, as
either affirming nothing particularly, or giving no Proof of what is
affirm’d.

In his next Chapter about the _Chaos_, I was in hopes to have found
something more considerable, but (besides his long _excerpta_ out of the
_Theory_, both here and elsewhere, which make a good part of his Book) I
find nothing but two small Objections against the Formation of the first
Earth, as it is describ’d by the Theorist. This Examiner says, _p. 37,
38._ That the little earthy Particles of the Chaos would not swim upon
the Surface of Oil, or any such unctuous Liquor; for how little soever,
yet being earthy, and Earth being heavier than Oil, they must descend
through it. But he grants that Dust will swim upon Oil; and I willingly
allow, if these descending Parts were _huge Lumps of solid Matter_, such
as we shall meet with in his next Chapter, they would easily break
through both the Oil and the Water under it; but that little tenuious
Particles or small Dust should swim upon Oil, I think is no wonder: And
he is so kind as to note an Instance of this himself; and to subjoin his
Reasons for it. We see Dust, saith he, _p. 38, 39._ though specifically
heavier than Oil, yet not to sink when cast upon it. And the Reason is,
because all terrestrial Bodies, tho’ fluid in their kind yet in some
degree resist Separation; and consequently, I add, viscous Liquors which
have some sort of Entanglement amongst themselves, resist Separation
more than others. Then he remarks farther, that according as Bodies are
less, they have more Surface in Proportion to their Bulk, and
consequently, that _small Bodies, whose Weight or Force to separate the
Parts of the Fluid is but very little, may have a Surface so large, that
they cannot overcome the Resistance of the Fluid: That is, they cannot
make Way for their Descent through the Fluid, and therefore must swim
upon the Surface of it_. Be it so, then the Particles here mentioned by
the Theorist, being little, and of large Surfaces in Proportion to their
Bulk, would swim upon the Surface of the Fluid, or mix with it, which is
all the Theorist affirms or supposes: And as this tender Film grew into
a Crust, and that into a solid Arch, the Parts of it would mutually
support one another; the Concave Superficies of the Orb overspreading
and leaning upon the Waters: And this also shews that his Instance of a
solid Globe sinking in a Fluid, is little to the Purpose in this Case.

But he hath a second objection behind, _p._ 40. or another Consideration
to prove that those little Particles would pierce and pass through this
oily Liquid. This Consideration is, the great Height of the Place from
which they descended; whereby, he thinks, they would acquire such a
Celerity and Force in their Descent, that they must needs break through
this Orb of oily Liquors when they came at it. But this is to suppose
that they descended without Interruption, or without having their Course
stopp’d, and their Force broken in several Parts of their journey. This
is an arbitrary and groundless Supposition: For these floating Particles
did not fall like a Stone, or a ponderous Body, in one continued Line,
but rather like Fleaks of Snow, hovering and playing in the Air, their
Course being often interrupted and diverted, and their force broken
again and again, before they came to the end of their Journey; so that
this Suggestion can be of no Force or Effect in the present Case.
However, if that will gratify him, we can allow that thousands and
millions of these little Particles might slip or creep through this
clammy Liquor, yet there would enough of them entangled there to make
it, first, a gross Liquid, then a sort of Concretion, so as to stop the
succeeding Particles from passing through it.

I have done with all that is argumentative in this Chapter: But this
Writer is pleased to go sometimes out of his way of Philosophising, to
make Reflections of another kind. Accordingly, here and elsewhere he
makes Insinuations and Suggestions, as if the Theorist did not own the
Hand of Providence, or of a particular and extraordinary Providence in
the Formation of the Earth; or as if all Things in the great Revolutions
of the natural World were carried on solely by material and mechanical
Causes. This Suggestion ought to be taken Notice of, as being contrary
to the Sense of the Theorist, as it is express’d in several Places. In
speaking of the Motions of the Chaos, the Theorist makes the _steady
Hand of Providence which keeps all Things in Weight and Measure, to be
the invisible Guide of all its Motions_, p. 45. And in concluding his
Discourse about the Formation of the Earth (_Chap._ V. _p._ 45.) the
Theorist says, _This Structure is so marvellous, that it ought rather to
be consider’d, as a particular Effect of the Divine Art, than as the
Work of Nature_; with many other Remarks there to the same purpose. Then
as to the Dissolution of the Earth, and the Conduct of the Deluge, ’tis
made miraculous also by the Theorist[22]: And upon that Occasion an
Account is given of Providence, both ordinary and extraordinary, in
reference to the Government of Nature; and that not only as to the
formation and Dissolution of the Earth, but also as to its Conflagration
and Renovation: For the Theorist always puts those great Revolutions
under the particular Conduct and Moderation of Providence. Lastly, As to
the whole Universe, he is far from making that the Product either of
_Chance_ or _Necessity_, or of any purely material or mechanical Causes;
as you may see at large in the two last Chapters of the _Theory_, _Book_
II. So that what this Author hath said (rudely enough, according to his
Way) of _Mr. Wotton_, _Introd._ _p._ 15. that _he either understands no
Geometry, or else that he never read_ D.C. _his Principles_, may with a
little Change be apply’d to himself in this Case, that either he never
read over, or does not remember, or, which is still worse, does wilfully
misrepresent what the Theorist hath wrote upon this Subject. The Sum of
all is this, _Deus non deficit in necessariis, nec redundat in
superfluis_: God is the God of Nature; and the Laws of Nature are his
Laws: These we are to follow so far as they will go, and where they fall
short, we must rise to higher Principles; but we ought not to introduce
a needless Exercise of the divine Power, for a Cover to our Ignorance.

To conclude this Chapter, I will leave one Advertisement with the
Examiner concerning the Chaos. When he speaks of the World’s rising from
the _Mosaick_ Chaos, if by _World_ he understand the whole Universe, as
he seems to do; not this inferior World only, but the fix’d Stars also,
and all the Heavens: If that, I say, be his Meaning and Opinion, he will
meet with other Opponents besides the Theorist, that will contest that
Point with him.

We come now to the third Chapter, concerning the _Mountains_ of the
Earth, which is a subject indeed that deserves Consideration, seeing it
reaches to the three fundamental Propositions before mentioned, and the
Form of the ante-diluvian Earth; which Form the Examiner would have to
be the same with that of the present Earth, to have had Mountains and
Rocks, an open Chanel of the Sea, with all the Cavities and
Irregularities within or without the Surface of it, as at present. If he
can prove this, he needs go no farther; he may spare his Pains for the
rest: I’ll undertake that the Theorist shall make no farther Defence of
his Theory, if the Examiner can make good Proof of this one Conclusion.
But, on the other Hand, the Examiner ought to be so ingenuous as to
acknowledge that all that he hath said besides, till this be prov’d, can
be of little or no Effect, as to the Substance of the Theory. Let us
then consider how he raises Mountains and Rocks, and gives us an Account
of all the other Inequalities that we find in the present Form of the
Earth, by an immediate Formation or Deduction from the Chaos.

To shew this, he supposes, _p._ 49, 51. that the Chaos had Mountains and
Rocks swimming in it, or, according to his Expression, _huge Lumps of
solid Matter_. These are Things, I confess, which I never heard of
before in a Chaos; which hath been always describ’d and suppos’d a Mass
of fluid Matter all over. But this Author confidently says, p. 48. _We
must conclude THEREFORE, that the Chaos was not so fluid a Mass, &c._
This _therefore_ refers us to an antecedent Reason, which is this; he
says, _ibid._ to make the Chaos an entirely fluid Mass is hard to be
granted, _since the greatest Parts of Bodies we have in the Earth, at
least so far as we can discern, are hard and solid, and there is not
such a Quantity of Water in the Earth, as would be requisite to soften
and liquify them all; besides a great part of them, as Stones and
Metals, are uncapable of being liquified by Water_. Very good, what is
this to the _Theory_? Does the Theorist any where affirm or suppose that
there were Stones or Metals in the Chaos; or that they were liquified by
Water? This must refer to some Hypothesis of his own, or to some other
Author’s Hypothesis that ran in his Mind: The Theorist owns no such
Doctrine or Supposition.

However, let’s consider how this new Idea of a Chaos is consistent with
the Laws of Nature: What made these _huge Lumps of solid Matter_,
whether Stone or Metal, to swim in the fluid Mass? This is against all
Rules of Gravity, and of Staticks, as he seems to acknowledge, and urged
it when he thought it to his Purpose. In the precedent Chapter (_p._
42.) when he speaks of Stones and Minerals, he says, _’Tis certain that
these great heavy Bodies must have sunk to the Bottom, if they were left
to themselves_: And he that will not allow Dust or little earthy
Particles, to float upon an oily Liquor, I wonder how he will make, not
little Particles, but these huge solid Lumps of Stone, Metals, or
Minerals, to float in the Chaos.

He seems to own and be sensible of this Inconvenience, (_p._ 50) and
thereupon finds an Expedient or Evasion which a lesser Wit would not
have thought on. He supposes, _p._ 51 that these _huge_ firm solid Lumps
were hollow, like empty Bottles, and that would keep them from sinking.
But who told him they were hollow? Is not this precarious? Or, if one
would use such Terms as he does, is not this _chymerical and
ridiculous_? What made those solid firm Lumps hollow? When, or where, or
how were their inward Parts scrap’d out of them? Nor would this
Hollowness, however they came by it, make them swim, unless there was a
mere Vacuum in each of them. If they were filled with the liquid Matter
of the Chaos, they would indeed be lighter than if wholly solid; but
they would still be heavier than any equal Bulk of the fluid Chaos, and
consequently would sink in it; the Preponderancy that would arise from
the Shell or solid Part still remaining.

Now let’s consider how such Mountains, or long Ridges of Mountains as we
have upon the Earth, were formed and settled by these floating Lumps. He
says, _p._ 50, 51. _Part of these Lumps or Masses standing out, or being
higher than the Fluid, would compose a Mountain_, as there are
_Mountains of Ice that float upon the Northern Seas_. But are not
Mountains of Rock and Stone, such as ours commonly are, heavier than
Mountains of Ice, that is specifically lighter than Water? This might
have been consider’d by the Examiner in drawing the Parallel: And still
I’m at a Loss what _Fluid_ it is he means, when he says, These Lumps or
Masses _standing out, or being higher than the Fluid_. Does he mean by
this Fluid the Whole Chaos? Did these Mountains stand at the Top of the
Chaos, partly within, and partly above it? Then what drew them down
below, if they stood equally pois’d there in their Fluid, and as high as
the Moon, if the Chaos reach’d so high. This, one would think, could not
be his Meaning, ’tis so extravagant; and yet there was no other Fluid
than the general Chaos, till that was divided and distinguish’d into
several Masses. Then, indeed, there was an Abyss, or Region of Waters
that covered the interior Earth, and was separate from the Air above.
Let us then suppose this Abyss to be the Waters or Fluid this Author
means, upon which his Mountains stood; then the rest of the Earth, as it
came to be form’d, must be continu’d and join’d with these Mountains,
and in like Manner laid over the Waters; so as in this Method, you see,
we should have an Orb of Earth built over the Abyss. This is a very
favourable Stroke for the Theorist, and grants him in Effect his
principal Conclusion, _viz._ That the _first ante diluvian Earth was
built over the Abyss_: This being admitted, there could be no universal
Deluge without a Disruption of that Earth, and an Eruption of the Abyss,
which is a main Point gain’d. And ’tis plain we make no false Logick in
collecting this from his Principles and Concessions: For, as we said
before, if these Mountains were founded upon the Abyss, they must have a
Continuity and Conjunction with the rest of the Surface of the Earth, if
they were such as our Mountains are now, and so all the habitable Earth
must be spread upon the Abyss.

But still he hath another Difficulty to encounter, how the great Chanel
of the Sea was made upon this Supposition: Why was not that Part of the
Globe fill’d up by the Descent of the earthy Particles of the Chaos as
well as the rest? The Chanel of the Ocean is commonly suppos’d to take
up half of the Globe, how came this gaping Gulph to remain unfill’d,
seeing it was encompass’d with the Chaos as well as any other Parts? Was
the Motion of the Particles suspended from descending upon that Part of
the Globe; or were they fill’d up at first, and afterwards thrown out
again to make room for the Sea? This may deserve his Consideration, as
well as the Mountains: And how dextrous soever this Author may be in
other Things I know not, but, in my Mind, he hath no good Hand in making
Mountains; and I’m afraid he would have no better Success in forming the
Chanel of the Sea, which he is wisely pleased to take no Notice of.

And indeed the Examiner seems to be sensible himself that he hath no
good Luck in assigning the _efficient Causes_ of Mountains from the
Chaos, and therefore he is willing to bear off from that Point, and to
lay the whole Stress upon their _final Causes_, without any regard to
their Origin, or how they came first into being. His Words are these,
_p._ 52. _But supposing the efficient Causes of Mountains unknown, or
impossible to be assign’d, yet still there remain the final Causes to be
enquir’d into, which will do as well for our Purpose_, with what follows
there concerning those Authors that exclude final Causes. If there be
such Authors, let them answer for themselves, the Theorist is not
concern’d. Grant the first Point, that Mountains could not arise from
any known efficient Causes in the first Concretion of the Chaos, or in
the first habitable Earth that rose from it, the Theorist readily allows
(as appears fully in the two last Chapters of the second Book of the
_Eng. Theor._) the Use of final Causes in the Contemplation of Nature,
as being great Arguments of the Wisdom and Goodness of God. But this
ought not to exclude the efficient Causes in a _Theory_, otherwise it
would be no _Theory_, but a Work of another Nature. Though a Man knew
the final Cause of a Watch or Clock, namely, to tell him the Hour of the
Day, yet, if he did not know the Construction of its Parts, what was the
Spring of Motion, what the Order of the Wheels, and how they mov’d the
Hand of the Dial, he could not be said to understand that little
Machine; or at least not to understand it so well as he that knew the
Construction and Dependence of all its Parts, in virtue whereof that
Effect was brought to pass. In many Cases we do not understand the final
Causes, and in many we do not understand the efficient; but,
notwithstanding, we must endeavour, so far as we are able, to join and
understand them both; the End and the Means to it: For by the one, as
well as the other, the divine Power and Wisdom are illustrated; and
seeing every Effect hath its efficient Cause, if we cannot reach it, we
must acknowledge our Speculations to be so far imperfect.

After this Excursion about final Causes, he concludes, _p._ 54. _That it
is impossible to subsist or live without Rocks or Mountains_;
consequently no Earth is habitable without Rocks and Mountains. But how
can he tell this? Hath he been all over the Universe to make his
Observations? or hath he had a Revelation to tell him that there is no
one habitable Planet throughout all the Works of God, but what is of the
same Form with our Earth as to Rocks and Mountains. Who hath ever
observ’d Mountains and Rocks in _Jupiter_, or in the Remains of
_Saturn_? I should think such a general Assertion as he makes, a bold
and unwarrantable Limitation of the divine Omniscience and Omnipotency.
Who dares conclude that the infinite Wisdom and Power of God is confin’d
to one single Mode or Fabrick of an habitable World? We know there are
many Planets about our Sun besides this Earth, and of different
Positions and Constructions: Neither do we know but there may be as many
about other Suns, or fix’d Stars: Must we suppose that they are all cast
in the same Mold? that they are all formed after the Model of our Earth,
with Mountains and Rocks, and Gulphs and Caverns?

                 _Urbem, quam dicunt Romam, Melibœe, putavi
                 Stultus ego, huic nostræ similem._

This was the Judgment of the Shepherd, who could imagine nothing
different, or nothing better than his own Town or Village; those may
imitate him that please. ’Tis true, _Suum cuique pulchrum_, is an usual
Saying, but we think that to proceed from Fondness rather, and
Self-Conceit, than from a true and impartial Judgment of Things. In
contemplating the Works of God, we ought to have Respect to his Almighty
and Infinite Wisdom, τῆν πολυπαίκιλον σοφίαν, _multiformem sapientiam
Dei_, rather than to the Measures of our own Experience and
Understanding. We may remember how an[23] Heathen hath upbraided and
derided that Narrowness of Spirit, _Quæ tantæ sunt animi angustiæ, ut si
Seryphi natus esses, nec unquam egrossus ex Insulá, in quâ Lepusculos
Vulpeculasque sæpe vidisses, non crederes Leones & Pantheras esse, cúm
tibi quales essent diceretur: Si verò de Elephanto quis diceret, etiam
rideri te putares._ We may as well say, that there can be no Animals of
another Form from those we have upon this Earth, as that there can be no
Worlds, or habitable Earths of another Form and Structure from the
present Earth. _An quicquam tam puerile dici potest_, says the same
Author, _quám si ea genera belluarum quæ in Rubro mari, Indiâve
gignantur, nulla esse dicamus? Atqui ne curiosissimi quidem homines
exquirendo andire tam multa possunt, quam sunt multa quæ Terræ, Mari,
Paludibus, Fluminibus existunt; quæ negemus esse quia nunquam vidimus?_
I mention such Instances to shew, that ’tis Rashness or Folly, to
confine the Varieties of Providence and Nature, to the narrow Compass of
what we have seen, or of what falls under our Imagination. This is a
more _strange and assuming Boldness_, as he terms it, _p._ 54 than what
he ascribes to the Theorist for saying, We can observe no Order in the
Situation of Mountains, nor Regularity in their Form and Shape. If the
Examiner knows any, why does he not tell us what it is, and wherein it
consists? Is it necessary that Mountains should be exact Pyramids or
Cones, or any of the regular Bodies? or rang’d upon the Earth in Rank
and File, or in a quincuncial Order, or like pretty Garden-Knots? If
they had been design’d for Beauty, this might have done well; but
Providence seems on Purpose to have left these Irregularities in their
Figure and Site, as Marks and Signatures to us, that they are the
Effects of a Ruin.

But to shew farther and more particularly the Necessity of Mountains,
the Examiner says, _p._ 55. and 61. Without them ’tis impossible there
should be Rivers, or without Rivers an habitable World. Neither of these
Propositions seems to me to be sure; they run still upon
Impossibilities, which is a nice Topick, and lies much out of our Reach.
I think Vapours may be condens’d other Ways than by Mountains, and an
Earth might be so fram’d, as to give a Course to Rivers, though there
were no particular Mountains, if the general Figure of it was higher in
one Part than another. Then as to the absolute Necessity of Rivers, to
make an Earth habitable, that is questionable too. We are told by good
Authors, of some Countries or Islands that have no Rivers or Springs,
and yet are habitable and fruitful, being water’d by Dews. This may give
us an Advertisement, from a Part to the Whole, that an Earth may be made
habitable without Rivers. If at first Vapours ascended, and fell down in
Dews, so as to _water the whole Face of the Earth_, _Gen._ ii. 6. God
might, if he had pleas’d, have continued the same Course of Nature. And
it is the Opinion of many Interpreters, and seems to have been an
antient Tradition, that there was no Rain till the Deluge. If there was
no Rainbow in the first Earth, (which I think the Theorist hath
undeniably prov’d, _Theor._ _Book_ II. _c._ 5.) it will be hard to prove
that there were then any watery Clouds in the habitable Parts of the
Earth. And our best[24] Observators will allow no Clouds or Rains in the
Moon, (and some of them no Rivers,) yet will not suppose the Moon
unhabitable. To conclude, ’tis a great Vanity to say no worse, for
short-sighted Creatures, and of narrow Understandings, to prescribe to
Providence what is necessary and indispensable to the Frame and Order of
an habitable World.

We proceed to his fourth Chapter; which is to shew the Inconveniencies
that would fall upon the Inhabitants of the Earth, in case it had such a
Posture as the Theorist hath assign’d to the ante-diluvian Earth:
Namely, that its Axis was parallel to the Axis of the Ecliptick, or
perpendicular to its Plane, and not oblique as it stands now. But will
this Author vouch, that there are no habitable Planets in the Universe,
or even about our Sun, that have this Posture which he blames so much?
_Jupiter_ is known to have a perpetual Equinox, and his Axis parallel to
the Axis of the Ecliptick; and _Mars_ hath little or no Obliquity that
is observable. And must this be a Reflection upon Providence? Or must we
suppose, that these Planets have no Inhabitants, or that their
Habitations are very bad and incommodious? _Jupiter_ is the noblest
Planet we have in our Heaven, whether you consider its Magnitude, or the
Number of its Attendants. If then a Planet of that Order and Dignity,
have such a Position and Aspect to the Sun, why might not our Earth have
had the same, proper to that State, and agreeable to the Divine Wisdom?
Yet he is so bold as to say, or suppose, _p._ 66. That _this cannot well
agree with the infinite Wisdom of its Maker_; as if he was able to make
a Measure or Standard for all the Works of God. ’Tis a crude and
injudicious Thing, from a few Particulars, the rest unknown, to make an
universal Conclution, which forward Wits are apt to do. Πρὸς ὀλίγα
ἐπιθλεψάμενετ.—_Ad pauca respiciens, facile pronuncias_, was
_Aristotle_’s Observation of old, and it holds in all Ages.

This Examiner, _p._ 76. censures the Theorist very rudely, for making
use of _physical Causes_, and not arguing from _final Causes_, which, he
says, _are the true Principles of natural Philosophy_. But, if this be
the Use he makes of final Causes, to tell God Almighty what is best to
be done, in this or that World, I had rather content myself with
_physical Causes_, to know what God hath done, and conclude it to be the
best, and that we should judge it so, if we had the same Extent of
Thought and Prospect its Maker had. There are indeed some _final Causes_
that are so manifest, that I should think it Sottishness or Obstinacy
for a Man to deny them; but I should also think that Man presumptuous,
that should pretend to draw the Scheme and Plan of every World, from his
Idea of _final Causes_. There are some Men that mightily cry out against
_Reason_, yet none more fond of it than they are, when they can get it
on their Side: So some Men inveigh against _physical Causes_, when
others make use of them, and yet as gladly as any make use of them
themselves, when they can make them serve their Purpose; and when they
cannot reach them, then they despise them, and are all for _final
Causes_. This Author says, _p._ 63. God always _chuses such
Constitutions and Positions of Things, as bring with them the greatest
Good and Utility to the Universe_. Very true, to the _Universe_? but who
made him judge what is best to the Universe? Does he look upon this
Earth as the Universe, whereof it is but a small Particle, or an Atom in
comparison? Must there be no Variety in the numberless Worlds which God
hath made? Must they all be one and the same Thing repeated again and
again? That I’m sure does not _well agree with the infinite Wisdom and
Power of God_.

But suppose we did confine our Thoughts to this Earth, we may be assur’d
that it hath undergone and will undergo, within the Compass of its
Duration, very different States, and yet all accommodate to Providence.
Those that suppose the Heavens and the Earth never to have had any other
Constitution and Construction than what they have now, or that there
hath never been any great Change and Revolution in our natural World,
follow the very Doctrine which St. _Peter_ opposes and confutes in his
_second Epistle_, Chap. 3. I mean the Doctrine of those _Scoffers_, as
he calls them, who said, _All Things_, the Heavens and the Earth, _have
remained in the same State they are in now, from the Beginning_, or from
the Creation, and are to continue so. In Confutation of this Opinion,
St. _Peter_ there minds them of the Change made at the Deluge, and of
the different Constitution and Construction of the Heavens and the
Earth, before and after the Deluge, whereby they were dispos’d to
undergo a different Fate, one by Water, and the other by Fire. And he
tells us in the same Place, that after the Conflagration, there will be
_new Heaven_; and a _new Earth_: So that there is no one fix’d and
permanent State even of this Earth, according to the Will and Wisdom of
Providence. But enough hath been said by the Theorist upon this Subject
(_Theor. Lat._ _l._ 1. _c._ 1 & 2. _Review_, p. 160. _&c._ _Archæol._
_l._ 2. _c._ 3, 5, 6.) And if they will not consider the Arguments
propos’d there, ’twould be in vain to repeat them here.

These Things premis’d, let’s consider what Inconveniencies are alledged,
or what Arguments against that Equality of Seasons, or the grand Cause
of them, the Parallelism of the Axis of the Earth, with the Axis of the
Sun. He says, upon this Supposition, there is more Heat now in the
Climates of the Earth, than could have been then. And what if there be?
Whether his Computation (which is aim’d against another Author) be true
or false, ’tis little to the _Theory_: If the Heat was equal and
moderate in the temperate and habitable Climates, who would desire the
extreme Heats of Summer? But he says, _p._ 66. That Heat would not be
sufficient for the Generation of Vegetables. How does that appear?
supposing that Heat constant throughout the whole Year. Does he think
there are no Vegetables in _Jupiter_, which hath still the same Position
the Theorist gave to the ante-diluvian Earth. And as to Heat, that
Planet is at vastly a greater Distance from the Sun than our Earth, and
consequently hath so much less Heat; yet I cannot believe that great
Planet to be only a huge Lump of bald and barren Earth. As to our
ante-diluvian Earth, ’tis probable that the Constitution of Plants and
Animals, was different then from what it is now, as their Longevity was
different, to which any Excesses of Heat or Cold are noxious; and the
Frequency and Multiplicity of Generations and Corruptions in the present
Earth, is Part of that Vanity to which it was subjected. But this
Examiner says moreover, If the first Earth had that Position, the
greatest Part of it would not be habitable. But how much less habitable
would it be than the present Earth? where the open Sea, which was not
then, takes up half of its Surface, and makes it unhabitable. ’Tis
likely the torrid Zone was unhabitable in that Earth; but ’tis probable
the Poles or Polar Parts were more habitable than they are now, seeing
they would have the Sun, or rather Half-Sun perpetually in their
Horizon: And as to the temperate Climates, as we call them, they would
be under such a gentle and constant Warmth, as would be more grateful to
the Inhabitants, and more proper and effectual for a continual Verdure
and Vegetation, than any Region of the present Earth is now.

But this Objector does not consider, on the other hand, what an hard
Life they would lead in those Days, at least in many Parts of the Earth,
if the Seasons of the Year were the same they are now, and they confin’d
to Herbs, Fruits, and Water; for that was the Diet of Mankind till the
Deluge. Should we not think it an unmerciful Imposition now, to be
interdicted the Use of Flesh-Meat all the Year long? Or rather is it
possible that the Life of Man could be supported by Herbs and Fruits,
and Water in the colder Climates, where the Winters are so long and
barren, and the Cold so vehement? But, if you suppose a perpetual Spring
throughout the Earth, the Heavens mild, and the Juices of Fruits and
Plants more nutritive, that Objection would cease, and their Longevity
be more intelligible.

We come now to the Causes of the Change in the Posture of the Earth,
where the Theorist hath set down his Conjectures, what he thought the
most probable to be the Occasion of it: Namely, either some Inequality
in the Libration of the Earth, after it was dissolved and broken; or a
Change in the Magnetism of its Body, consequent upon its Dissolution,
and the different Situation of its Parts. But this Examiner will neither
allow any Change to have been made in the Position of the Earth since
the Beginning of the World; nor, if there was a Change, that it could be
made from such Causes. The first of these Points you see is Matter of
Fact; and so it must be prov’d, partly by History, and partly by Reason.
Some Things are noted before, which argue that the ante-diluvian Earth
was different from the present, in its Frame and Constitution, as also
in reference to the Heavens; and the Places are referred to, where the
Matter is treated more largely by the Theorist. If it be granted, that
there was a permanent Change made in the State of Nature at the Deluge,
or any other Time, but deny’d that it was made by a Change of the
Situation of the Earth, and the Consequences of it, then this Writer
must assign some other Change made, which would have the same Effects;
that is, which will answer and agree with the Phænomena of the first
Earth, and also of the present. When this is done, if it be clear and
convictive, we must acquiesce in it: But I do not see that it is so much
as attempted by this Author.

This suppos’d Change, I say, is Matter of Fact, and therefore we must
consult History and Reason for the Proof or Disproof of it. As to
History, the Theorist hath cited to this Purpose _Leucippus_,
_Anaxagoras_, _Democritus_, _Empedocles_, _Plato_ and _Diogenes_. These
were the most renowned Philosophers amongst the Antients; and all these
speak of an Inclination of the Earth or the Poles, which hath been made
in former Ages. These, one would think, might be allow’d as good
Witnesses of a former Tradition concerning a Change in the Situation of
the Earth, when nothing is brought against them. And this Change is
particularly call’d by _Plato_ ἀναρμοσία or ἀνωμαλία, a Disharmony or
Disconcerting of the Motions of the Heavens, which he makes the Source
and Origin of the present Evils and Inconveniencies of Nature. Besides,
he dates this Change from the Expiration of the Reign of _Saturn_, or
when _Jupiter_ came to take the Government upon him: And this, you know,
in the Style of those Times, signifies the End of the Golden Age. Thus
far _Plato_ carries the Tradition: Now, the Poets tell us expressly that
there was a _perpetual Spring_, or a perpetual Equinox in the Time of
_Saturn_, and that the Inequality of the Year, or the Diversity of
Seasons was first introduc’d by _Jupiter_. The Authors and Places are
known and noted by the Theorist; I need not repeat them here. You see
what this Evidence amounts to, both that there hath been a Change, and
such a Change, as alter’d the Course of the Year, and brought in a
Vicissitude of Seasons; and this according to the Doctrines or
Traditions remaining amongst the Heathens. The _Jews_ and _Christians_
say the same Thing, but in another Manner: They do not speak of the
Golden Age, nor of the Reign of _Saturn_ or _Jupiter_, but of the State
of Paradise, or _Gan-Eden_; and concerning that, they say the same
Things, which the Heathen Authors say, in different Words. The _Jews_
make a perpetual Equinox in Paradise, the _Christians_ a perpetual
Serenity, a perpetual Spring; and this cannot be without a different
Situation of the Earth from what it hath now. He may see the Citations
if he please, in the _Theory_, or _Archæologia_.

It were to be wish’d, that this Examiner would look a little into
Antiquity, when he hath Time: It may be, that would awaken him into new
Thoughts, and a more favourable Opinion of the Theory as to this
Particular. Give me leave to mind him in his own Way, what some antient
Astronomers have said relating to this Subject. _Baptista Mantuanus_,
speaking of the Longevity of the Ante-Diluvians, says, _Erant illis, ut
Astronomia & Experimento constat, Cœli propitiores; volunt namque
Astronomi_, _&c._ This he explains by an uniform and concentrical Motion
of the Heavens and the Earth, at that Time; to which he imputes the
great Virtue of their Herbs and Fruit, and the long Lives of their
Animals. _Petrus Aponensis_, who liv’d above an Age before _Mantuan_,
give us much what the same Account: For making an Answer to this
Question, _utrum natura humania sit debilitata ab eo quod antiquitus,
necne?_ He says, _Cum capita Zodiaci mobilis & immobilis ordinati &
directè concurrebant, tunc virtus perfectiori modò à primo principio per
medias causastaliter ordinatas fortiori modo imprimebatur in ista
inferiora, cum causæ tunc sib invicem correspondeant——Propter quod
concludendum est, tunc naturam humanam illo tempore, ut sic fortiorem &
longæviorem extitisse._ I give it in his own Words as they are in his
_Conciliator. Differ. 9._

_Georgius Pictorius_, or an Author under his Name, unto the same
Question about the Longevity of the Ante-diluvians, gives a like Answer
from the same Astronomer, in these Words: _Petrus Aponensis adsert
rationem, & pro vario cursu & dispositione coelorum modo vitam humanam
breviari, modo produci seribit. Ex Astronomiá argumentum colligens, cùm
ait duos Zodiacos, unum in noná sphærâ, alterum in octava (quam
Firmamentum vocani) in initio rerum & temporum, sic à Deo fuisse
dispositos, ut Aries Arieti, Taurus Tauro, Geminis Gemini jungerentur: &
amborum cocuntibus in unum viribus fortior in Terras fieret fluxus. Unde
herbas tunc salubriores & fructus terræ meliores, & longiores vitas
animantium fuisse affirmat. Sed dennò illá syderali dissolutá ab invicem
per motum societate, totum ait inferiorem mundum ægrotare, atque per
decrementum claudicare cæpisse._ This, you see, is Astronomy in an
old-fashion’d Dress; but you can easily take off the Disguise, and apply
it to the true System of the Heavens. The same Author refers you, for a
more full Explication of that Matter, to his _Lectiones succisivæ, Dial.
prim._ which Book I have not yet had an Opportunity to see. I believe it
is in his _Opera Philologica_, printed in _Octavo_ at _Basil_.

But since the first writing of the Theory, there have been _Æthiopick_
Antiquities produc’d from an Abyssine Philosopher, and transmitted to us
by _Francisco Patricio_ in his Dialogues. If that Account he gives of
the _Æthiopian Archæologia_ be true and genuine, they exceed all other
upon this Subject: for they do not only mention this Particular, of the
Unity of Seasons in the primitive Earth, but the other principal Parts
of the Theory: As the Concussion and Fraction of the Earth; that the
Face of it before was smooth and uniform, and upon that Disruption it
came into another Form, with Mountains, Rocks, Sea and Islands. These
and other such Characters are mentioned there, whereof the Examiner may
see an Account, if he please, in the last Edition of the _English
Theory_, p. 189. The Story indeed is surprizing, which way soever you
take it, whether it was the Invention of that Abyssine Philosopher, or a
real Tradition deriv’d from the _Æthiopian_ Gymnosophists. However that
be, there are otherwise such conspicuous Footsteps in philosophick
History, and in what may be call’d Ecclesiastick, amongst the _Jews_ and
_Christians_, of some Revolution in the System of the World, as must
give occasion to any thinking Man to suppose, that there hath been a
Change made in the Situation of the Earth. This, by some of the
forementioned Authors, is ascrib’d expresly to the Earth; and what by
others (according to their Hypothesis) is ascrib’d to the higher
Heavens, we know upon a just Interpretation belongs to the Earth. Those
also that ascribe such Phænomena to Paradise, or the Golden Age, as are
not intelligible upon any other Supposition, must also be referr’d to
this Change of the Site or Posture of the Earth: So that upon all
Accounts (mediately or immediately) the Matter of Fact, that the Earth
hath undergone such a Change, is testified by History, Antiquity and
Tradition. It deserves also to be observ’d, that there was a general
Tradition amongst the Antients, concerning the Inhabitability of the
Torrid Zone; which may be an Argument or Confirmation, that there was a
State of Nature at one time or other, when this was true, and that such
a general Opinion could not arise, and be continued so long without some
Foundation.

So much for History to determine Matter of Fact: Now as to Reason (which
we mentioned as the other Head, to prove or disprove this Conclusion.)
That the Form of the primitive Earth which is assign’d by the Theorist,
being suppos’d, namely, that it was regular, uniform, and had an equal
Libration, it would naturally take an even and parallel Position with
the Axis of its Orbit, or of the Ecliptick, as is set down more at large
in the Theory: Nor can any Reason be alledg’d to the contrary. ’Tis
true, this Examiner, _p. 83._ notwithstanding any Uniformity and
Equilibration of that Earth, pretends it would be indifferent to any
Position, or _retain any Position given, as a Sphere will do, put in a
Fluid_. This might be, if that Sphere or Globe was resting; but if it
was turn’d about its Axis, and the Axis of the Fluid (which is the
present Case) it would certainly take a Position parallel to the Axis of
its Fluid, if there was no other Impediment.

The Matter of Fact being settled with the Cause of it, what the Causes
of the Change were, is more problematical. The Philosophers forecited
gave their Reason; _Aristarchus Samius_ gives another, and a _Comet_ by
some is made the occasion of it: The Theorist thinks that the
Dissolution of the Earth was the fundamental Cause, and that the Change
came to pass at that time, as many Indications and Arguments shew. And
as to the immediate Cause or Causes of it, I know none more probable
than what the Theorist hath proposed; _Eng. Theor._ _p. 267._ Either the
Change of its Center of Gravity, or of its Magnetism; the Line of
Direction to those magnetick Particles, and their passing through the
Earth being so alter’d, as to turn the Earth into another Posture, and
hold it there. As to those Expressions that he seems to quarrel with, of
the Inclination of the Earth, or the Pole, towards the Sun, ’tis the
Expression of the antient Philosophers, tho’ I think it might more
properly be called an Obliquation. Then that the former State is called
_situs rectus_, is another Expression which he finds fault with; though
every one sees that a _right Situation_ in such Places, is opposed to an
_oblique_, or inclined Position to the Axis of the Sun or Ecliptick, and
had been called _parallel_ in several other Places; and which he
himself, _p. 71._ sometimes, as well as other Authors, call a right
Position. This is but trifling about Words: If he grants that the
primitive Earth being uniform, and consequently equally pois’d, its Axis
would be parallel (which for shortness, is sometimes call’d _right_) to
the Axis of its Orbit, and is now in a different and oblique Posture,
this is all the Theorist desires, as to Matter of Fact. I conceive the
whole Matter thus: When the Earth was in that even and parallel Posture
with the Axis of the Sun, it had a perpetual Equinox and Unity of
Seasons, the Equator and Ecliptick being coincident: And as to the
Heavens, they with the fix’d Stars mov’d or seem’d to move uniformly and
concentrically with the Earth. But when the Earth chang’d its Posture to
that which it hath now, the Year became unequal, and the Equator and
Ecliptick became distinct Circles, or, if you will, a new Circle arose
from the Distinction. The Earth in the mean time continuing its annual
Course in the Ecliptick, had the Position of its Axis chang’d to a
Parallelism with the Axis of the Equator, which it holds throughout the
whole Year. As to the Heavens, they seem’d to turn upon another Axis, or
other Poles than they did before, and different from those of the Sun or
the Earth: And this fundamental Change in the Site of the Earth, had a
farther Chain of Consequences, as is noted by the Theorist, in reference
to the State both of the animate and inanimate World, This is, in short,
the State of the Case, which is sometimes express’d in different Terms,
especially by the Antients, who generally followed another System of the
Heavens and the Earth, and were not always accurate in their
Expressions.

This Author would square and conform all the Planets to the Model of the
present Earth: Whereas there is _Diversity of Administrations_ in the
natural World, as well as spiritual, yet the same Providence every
where. The Axes of the Planets are not all parallel to that of the Sun,
nor all oblique; and those that are so, have not all the same Degrees of
Obliquity, yet we have Reason to think them all habitable. In some there
are no different Seasons of the Year, and in some they differ in another
manner than ours; and the Periods of their Years are very different. In
like manner, as to the Days, in some they are longer, in others shorter:
In the _Moon_ a Day lasts fourteen or fifteen of our Days, and their
Nights are proportionably longer than our Nights. In _Jupiter_, the Days
are but of five Hours, and so the Nights; that Planet being turned in
ten Hours about his Axis. In _Mercury_ we know little what the Seasons
or Days are, but its Year must be much shorter than ours; as also is
that of _Venus_; and their Heat from the Sun, must be much greater.
_Jupiter_ and _Saturn_ are at vast Distances from the Sun, and must
proportionably have less Heat; and _Saturn_ must have a greater
Difference of Summer and Winter than we have, by reason of his greater
Obliquity to the Sun. These and such like Observations, show what Vanity
it is to make an universal Standard from the State of our Earth: Or to
say, this is best, and to make Things otherwise, would be inconsistent
with the _infinite Wisdom of their Maker_, as this Examiner, _p. 66._
pretends to do.

But to return to his Objections: This he suggests, _ibid._ as one, that
in case of a perpetual Equinox, the annual Motion of the Earth about the
Sun would be to no Purpose. Of this we are no competent Judges, no more
than of the other Differences foremention’d in the Conditions of the
Planets. Yet, in that Case, a Distinction and Computation of Time might
be made, by their Aspect to the different Signs of the Zodiack. There
may be, (for any Thing we know,) in the Extent of the Universe, Planets,
or great opaque Bodies, that have no Course about their Suns, for
Reasons best known to their Maker; and others that have no diurnal
Motion about their Axes: Nor ought such States, tho’ very different from
ours, to be concluded incongruous. If this Objection of his were of any
Force, it would lie against _Jupiter_ as well as against the
ante-diluvian Earth. And this minds me of his Objection taken from
_Saturn_ and _Jupiter_, whose Axes, he says, are Inclined to the Axis of
the Ecliptick; and yet, according to the Theorist, they have suffer’d no
Deluge. This is an unhappy Argument, for I think it hath two Errors in
it: But let us set down his Words, that there may be no Mistake or
Misrepresentation, _p. 76._ _Another Argument which may be brought to
convince the Theorist that the Axis of the Earth was at first inclined
to the Plane of the Ecliptick is, that it is certain by Observation,
that Saturn and Jupiter (whom the Theorist will allow to have suffered
no Deluge as yet) have their Axes not perpendicular, but inclined to the
Planets of their Orbits; and the Position is true of all the other
Planets, as far as they can be observ’d. And therefore, &c._ First, as
to _Saturn_, I’m sure the Theorist never thought that Planet to be now
in its original Form, but to be broken, and to have already suffer’d a
Dissolution, as you may see in both Theories, _English_ and _Latin_[25].
Then as to the Position of _Jupiter_, I know not whence he has this
_certain_ Observation, that its Axis is oblique to the Plane of its
Orbit: For[26] _Hugenius_ tells us just the contrary, and that it hath a
perpetual Equinox. Let these Things be examin’d, and hereafter let us be
cautious how we take Things upon the Examiner’s Word, if he be found to
have committed two Faults in one Objection.

Farthermore, he intimates, (_p. 94._) that the Theorist hath no Mind to
the Notion of _Attraction_; I believe so too, nor in Philosophy to any
other Notion that is unconceivable. He must tell us how this
_Attraction_ differs from an _occult Quality_, whether it is a
mechanical Principle or no; and if not, from what Principle it arises.
When he hath told us this, we shall be better able to judge of it.

After all, to conclude this Chapter, the one grand Question with the
Theorist (whatsoever there may be with other Authors) is this, _whether_
the Earth has chang’d its Situation since the Beginning of the World:
And that it has done so, the Theorist does still positively maintain.

Having insisted more largely upon these four first Chapters, as being
most fundamental in the Controversy, we shall dispatch more readily this
fifth and the seventh, leaving the sixth Chapter to a more particular
Disquisition in the last Place.

This fifth Chapter is designed against the Rivers of the primitive
Earth, according to that Origin and Derivation that is given them by the
Theorist. But it is to be noted in the first Place, that supposing they
had any other Origin or Course than what is there assign’d (excepting
only an Origin from Mountains,) the _Theory_ continues still in Force.
For this Point about the Waters of the first Earth, and the Explication
of them, is one of those Explications that admit of Latitude and
Variety; and therefore as to the _Theory_, the Question is only this,
_Whether_ an habitable Earth may have Rivers without Mountains. For if
any Earth may have them without Mountains, why not the primitive Earth?
Now it will be hard for the Examiner, or any other, to prove, that in
every World, where there are Waters and Rivers, there are Mountains. We
intimated before, that the general Frame of an Earth might be such as
would give a Course to Waters without particular Mountains. But we will
leave that at present to a farther Consideration, and observe now what
his Proofs are, that there could be no Rivers in the primitive Earth.

First he says, _p. 87._ _According to the Theorist’s Own Hypothesis,
there could be no Rivers for a long Time after the Formation of the
Earth_. Where is this said by the Theorist? His Hypothesis supposes,
that the soft and moist Earth could not but afford Store of Vapours at
first, as this Author in another Place hath noted for the Sense of the
Theorist, (_p. 86._) and now he says the quite contrary: The Chanels of
the Rivers indeed would not be so deep and hollow at first as they are
now, their Cavities being wrought by Degrees; but still there would not
want Vapours to supply them.

Then he says, _p. 88._ when that first Moisture of the Earth was
lessened, there could be no Supply of Vapours from the Abyss; seeing the
Heat of the Sun could not reach so far, nor raise Vapours from it, or at
least not in a sufficient Quantity, as he pretends to prove hereafter:
But in the mean Time he speaks of great Cracks or Pits, whose Dimensions
and Capacities he examines at Pleasure, and by these he makes the
Theorist to suppose the Vapours to ascend. Now I do not find that the
Theorist makes any Mention of these Pits, nor any Use of those Cracks
for that Purpose. The only Question is, whether the Heat of the Sun in
that Earth would reach so low as the Abyss, when the Earth was more
dried, a»d its Pores enlarg’d: So that this Objection, as he states it,
seems to refer to some other Author.

But now supposing the Vapours rais’d, he considers what Course they
would take, or which Way they would move in the open Air. But before
that be examin’d, we must take Notice how unfairly he deals with the
Theorist, when he seems to make him suppose, _p. 94, 95._ that Mountains
_make way for the Motion and Dilatation of the Vapours_; which he never
suppos’d, nor is it possible he should suppose it in the first Earth,
where there were no Mountains. Neither does the Theorist suppose, as
this Author would insinuate, that Mountains or Cold dilate Vapours, but
on the contrary, that they _stop_ and _compress them_, as the Words are
cited, even by the Examiner a little before, _p. 86._

Then as to the Course of the Vapours, when they are rais’d, the Theorist
supposes that would be towards the Poles and the coldest Climates. But
this Author says, _p. 97._ they would all move Westward, or from East to
West; _there being a continual Wind blowing from the East to West,
according to the Motion of the Sun_. Whether that Wind come from the
Motion of the Sun, or of the Earth, (which is contrary,) is another
Question; but however, let them move at first to the West, the Question
here is, _Where they would be condens’d_, or where they would fall. And
there is little Probability that their Condensation would be under the
Equator, where they are most agitated, but rather by an Impulse of new
Vapours, they would soon divert towards the Poles, and losing their
Agitation there, would fall in Dews or Rains. Which Condensation being
made, and a Passage open’d that Way for new ones to supply their Places,
there would be a continual Draught of Vapours, from the hotter to the
colder Parts of the Earth.

We proceed now to the seventh Chapter, which is in a good Measure upon
the same or a like Subject with this, namely, concerning the Penetration
of the Heat of the Sun into the Body of the Earth. This, he says, _p.
148._ cannot be to any considerable Depth; nor could it pass the
exterior Orb of the first Earth, and affect the Abyss, or raise Vapours
from it. To prove this, he supposes that exterior Earth divided into so
many Surfaces as he pleases, then supposing the Heat diminished in every
Surface, he concludes it could not possibly pass through so many. Thus
you may divide an Inch into an hundred or a thousand Surfaces, and prove
from thence, that no Heat of the Sun could pierce through an Inch of
Earth. We must rather consider Pores than Surfaces in this Case; and
whether those Pores were straight or oblique, the Motion would pass
however, though not the Light: And the Heat of the Sun might have its
Effect, by a direct or indirect Motion, to a great Depth within the
Earth, notwithstanding the Multitude of Surfaces that he imagines. Those
that think a Comet, upon its nearer Approach to the Sun, would be
pierc’d with its Heat through and through; and to such a Degree, as to
become much hotter than red hot Iron, will not think it strange, that at
our Distance from the Sun, its Heat should have some proportionable
Effect upon the inward Parts of the Earth. And all those imaginary solid
Surfaces do not hinder, you see, the magnetick Particles from running
through the Body of the Earth, and making the Globe one great Magnet.

But let those Considerations have what Effect they can, this Supposition
however is nothing peculiar to the Theorist. I know some learned Men
think the Heat of the Sun does penetrate deep into the Bowels of the
Earth; others think it does not, and either of them have their
Arguments. These alledge the equal Temper of Vaults and Mines at
different Seasons of the Year: The other say, ’tis true, subterraneous
Places keep their Equality of Temper much better than the external Air,
and those Differences that appear to us, are in a great Measure by
comparison with the Temper of our Bodies. Then for their own Opinion,
they take an Argument from the Generation of Metals and Minerals in the
Bowels of the Earth, and other subterraneous Fossiles. These, we see,
are ripen’d by degrees in several Ages, and cannot, as they think, be
brought to Maturity, and raised into the exterior Earth, without the
Heat and Influence of the Sun: Of the same Sun that actuates all the
vegetable World, that quickens Seeds, and raises Juices into the Roots
of our deepest, and Tops of our highest Oaks and Cedars.

But let this remain a Problem; I will instance in another remarkable
Phænomenon, which is most for the present Purpose, I mean Earthquakes.
Let us consider the Causes of them, and the Depths of them: I think all
agree, that Earthquakes arise from the Rarefaction of Vapours and
Exhalations, and that this Rarefaction must be made by some Heat; and no
other is yet proved to us by this Author than that of the Sun. Then as
to the Depth of Earthquakes, we find they are deeper than the Bottom of
the Sea: For, besides that they communicate with different Countries
divided by the Sea, they are found sometimes to arise within the Sea,
and from the Bottom of it, at great Depths. This seems to prove, that
there may be a strong Rarefaction of Vapours and Exhalations far within
the Bowels of the Earth; and the Theorist desires no more. If in the
present Constitution of the Earth, there may be such Concussions and
Subversions for a great Extent, we have no Reason to believe, but there
might be (at a Time appointed by Providence) an universal Disruption, as
that Earth was constituted. Finally, whatsoever the Causes of this
Disruption and Dissolution were, ’tis certain there was a _Disruption of
the Abyss_, and that Disruption universal as the Deluge was; which
answers sufficiently the Design of the _Theory_. However, if he have a
mind to see, how this agrees with History, both sacred and prophane, he
may consult, if he pleases, what the Theorist hath noted upon that
Argument, _Archæol. l. 2. c. 4._ besides other Places.

But this Author says farther, That supposing such a Disruption of the
Abyss, and Dissolution of the exterior Earth, no universal Deluge
however could follow upon it; because there could not be Water enough
left in the Abyss to make or occasion such a Deluge: For the Rivers of
the Earth being then supply’d from the Abyss, by such a Time, or before
the Time of the Deluge, he says, there would be no Water left in it.
Thus he goes from one Extreme to another: Before he said, the Power of
the Sun could not reach or affect the Abyss to draw out any Vapours from
it; now he would make the Evaporation so excessive, that it would have
emptied the great Abyss before the Deluge. This is a great Undertaking,
and to make it good he takes a great Compass: He pretends to shew us,
what Quantity of Water all the Rivers of the Earth throw into the Sea
every Day; and beginning with the River _Po_, and taking his Measure
from that, he supposes there are such a certain Number of equivalent
Rivers upon the Face of the whole Earth; and if the _Po_ casts so much
Water into the Sea, the rest will cast so much more, and in Conclusion
so much as would empty the Abyss.

You will easily believe, _Sir_, there must be great Uncertainties in
this Computation: But, if that was certain, as it is far from it, still
he goes upon Suppositions that are not allow’d by the Theorist. For,
first, he supposes the Waters of the present Sea to be equal to the
Waters of the great Abyss: Whereas, supposing them of the same Depth,
there would be near twice as much Water in the _great Deep_, as is now
in the Ocean; seeing the Abyss was extended under the whole Earth, and
the Sea reaches but to half of it. Secondly, He should prove that the
Rivers of the ante-diluvian Earth were as many, and as great, as we have
now. The Torrid Zone then had none, and much less would serve the
temperate Climates than is requisite now for the Earth. Besides, the
Rivers of that Earth were not supplied by Vapours only from the Abyss,
but also from all the Earth, and all the Waters upon the Earth: And when
the Rivers were partly lost and spent in the Torrid Zone, they were in a
great Measure exhal’d there, and drawn into the Air by the Heat of the
Sun, and would fall again in another Place, to make new Rains and a new
Supply to the Rivers. So, in like manner, when he supposes, _p. 158._
the Rivers that were upon the Earth, at the Time of the Disruption or
the great Deep, to have thrown themselves off the Land, as if they were
lost; and makes a Computation how much Water all the Rivers of the Earth
amount to: This, I say, is a needless Computation as to the present
Purpose. For whatsoever Mass of Waters they amounted to, it would not be
lost: If they fell down and joined with the Abyss, they would increase
its Store, and be thrown up again by the Fall of the Fragments, making
so much a greater Mass to overflow the Earth; So that nothing is gain’d
by this Supposition. The Effect would be the same as to the Deluge:
Whether the Waters above the Earth, and those under the Earth met
together sooner or later, when their Forces were joined, they would
still have the same Effect, as we said before of the Vapours. And to
conclude that Point, the whole Sum of Waters, or Vapours convertible
into Waters, that were from the Beginning, or at any Time, would still
be preserv’d above Ground, or under Ground: And that would turn to the
same Account, as to the Flood.

These Waters and Vapours all collected, the Theorist supposes
sufficient, upon a Dissolution of the Earth, to make the Deluge: Not
indeed in the Nature of a Standing Pool, as it is usually conceiv’d; a
quiet Pool, I say, overtopping and standing calm over the Heads of the
highest Mountains; but as a rushing Sea, overflowing and sweeping them
with its raging Waves and impetuous Fluctuations, when it was violently
forc’d out of all its Chanels, and the Vapours condensed into Rain. Such
an Inundation as this, would be sufficient to destroy both Man and
Beast, and other Creatures, those few excepted, that were miraculously
preserv’d in the Ark. This is the Theorist’s Explication of the Deluge,
and I see nothing in this Argument, that will destroy or weaken it.

Now, this being the State of the Deluge, according to the Theorist, what
this Author says in the next Paragraph (_p. 167._) is either a
Misrepresentation, or an Equivocation. For the eight Oceans requir’d by
the Theorist, is the Quantity of Water necessary for a Deluge in the Way
of a Standing Pool: Whereas this Author represents it, as if the
Theorist required so much Water to make a Deluge upon his Hypothesis.
This, I suppose, upon Reflection, the Author cannot but see to be a
Mistake, or a wilful Misrepresentation.

This is the Sum of his seventh Chapter: There are besides some
Suggestions made, which it may be were intended for Objections by the
Author: As when he says, (_p. 151._) that the Heat of the Sun would be
intolerable upon the Surface of the Earth, if it could pierce and
operate upon the Abyss. We allow, that its Heat was intolerable in the
Torrid Zone, which thereby became unhabitable; and there only the Sun
was in its full Strength, and had its greatest Effect upon the Abyss.
But in the other Climates, the Heat would be moderate enough; nay, so
moderate, that this Author says in another Place, _p. 66, 69_, _&c._ it
would not be sufficient to ripen Fruits, and in the Whole, of less Force
than it is now in the present Constitution of the Earth. So apt is
Contention to carry one out of one Extreme into another.

His last Objection is about the Duration of the Flood, that it could not
last in its Force a hundred and fifty Days, if it had been made by a
Dissolution of the Earth, and an Eruption of the Abyss. But as this is
affirm’d by him without Proof, so the contrary is sufficiently explain’d
and made out, both in the _Latin_ and _English_ Theory, p. 52, 56.

I had forgot to tell him, that he ought not to suppose, as he seems to
do, when he is emptying the Abyss, (_p. 165._) that after the Torrid
Zone was soak’d with Waters by the Issues of the Rivers, no more Waters
or Vapours were drawn from it then, than were before, or consequently no
less from the Abyss. For when the middle Parts of the Earth had drunk in
those Waters, the Force of the Sun would be less upon the Abyss through
those Parts, and the Vapours would be more and greater from them, than
before when they were drier, and in the same Proportion they needed less
Supplies from the Abyss.


                               CHAP. VI.
                 _Concerning the Figure of the Earth._


I Deferr’d the Consideration of this Chapter to the last, because I
thought it of a more general Concern, and might deserve a fuller
Disquisition. ’Tis now, you know, become a common Controversy or
Enquiry, _what the Figure of the Earth is_. Many think it not truly
Spherical, as it was imagin’d formerly, but a Spheroid, either oblong or
oblate; that is, either extended in Length toward the Poles, like an
oval; or, on the contrary, swelling in Breadth under the Equator, and so
shorter than a just Sphere betwixt Pole and Pole, and broader in the
middle Parts. ’Tis true, the Theorist is not directly concern’d in this
Controversy, because he does not in the _Theory_ affirm the present
Earth to be oblong or oval, not knowing what Change might be made at its
Dissolution. However, it may be worth the while to enquire what
Arguments are bought, either from Causes or Effects, to determine the
Figure of the Earth, whether past or present.

’Tis easy indeed by Observation to determine, that the Earth is a convex
Body, not plain, as the _Epicureans_ fansied; and convex on all Sides,
and therefore in some sort orbicular; but whether it be truly spherical,
those common Observations will not determine. The Theorist nam’d and
pointed at such Observations, as he thought would be most likely to
discover the precise Figure of the Earth: As to observe, for Instance,
whether the Extent of a Degree was the same all the Earth over, in
different Latitudes, or at different Distances from the Equator. Then to
observe whether the Shade of the Earth in a total Eclipse of the Moon be
truly round, or any other ways irregular. And also to observe, if
towards the Poles, the Return of the Sun into their Horizon, be
according to the Rules of a spherical Surface of the Earth. Let us
consider these separately, as to the present Earth.

As to the Measure of a Degree in different Latitudes, we find that
Authors are not all of the same Mind. Some will have them unequal, and
in such a manner, according to their Distance from the Equator, as from
that to infer, that the Earth is oblong. This Examiner takes Notice of
Dr. _Eisensmidius_, as one that hath made that Observation, and that
Inference from it, and gives him very rude Words upon that occasion,
making him a Man of _prodigious Stupidity, and Crackpot_, _p. 140_, and
one that did _not understand the first six Elements of Euclid, or indeed
those of common Sense, p. 143._ Whatsoever this Professor was, he was
not the first that made that Observation and Inference. For another
Mathematician, better known, had made the same, some time before him: I
mean _Milliet Deschales_, in his _general Principles of Geography_, _Fr.
l. 1. propos. 29._ But, ’tis true, he says, this Conjecture of his, that
the Figure of the Earth is oval or ecliptick, would not be well
grounded, if the Shade of the Earth in Lunar Eclipses was found to be
always perfectly round; of which we shall have occasion to speak
hereafter. For this, which he makes a Scruple against his own Opinion,
is by others made an Occasion of suspecting that the Earth is really
Oval. But we must also acknowledge, that the same _Deschales_ in his
_Latin_ Works does not own the Observation, but owns the Inference,
which is that the Examiner quarrels with. He owns it, I say, in these
Words,[27] _Si figura terræ esset ovalis, plura milliaria decurrenúa
essent versus Æquinoctialem ad inveniendum in elevatione poli mutationem
unius gradûs quàm versus polos._ And he gives this Reason, _Quià ovalis
figura prope vertices minorem sphæram imitatur: versus Æquinoctialem
autem in majorem sphæram degenerat._ And again, having taken Notice of
the various Computations of a Degree upon the Earth, he subjoins[28],
_Hæc observationum discrepantia nonnullis suspicionem fecit, Tellurem
non omninò sphæricam esse, sed sphæroidem ellipticam, ita ut versus
polos in minorem circulum abiret. Sed opus est pluribus observationibus
adid persuadendum._ The Theorist did not assert either the Observation
to be true or the Inference, but mark’d it as an Observation that
deserv’d to be enquir’d into, in order to determine the Figure of the
Earth. For it seems apparent, that if the Body of the Earth be oblong or
oblate, the Extent of a Degree will not be really the same as if it was
truly spherical. Neither do I know any single Observation that would
give us more Light, or better help us to discover what the Configuration
of the Earth is, than the Measure of a Degree exactly taken in different
Latitudes.

I happened lately to be in Company with a learned Gentleman, and amongst
other Things that fell into Discourse, I ask’d his Opinion, what
Inequality there would be in the Degrees of the Earth, in case it was
oval, and where it would fall; whether they would be greater towards the
Poles, or towards the Equator. We were suddenly interrupted by the
coming in of new Company, but he said he would send me his Thoughts upon
a little Reflection; and accordingly, after a few Days he was pleased to
send me this Letter.

    _SIR_,

    [Illustration: A Circle, with various Points marked.]

    Having now some Leisure (the Elections for Parliament, wherein I had
    any Concern, being over) I have here sent you my Thoughts on a
    Subject we lately discours’d of at _Kensington_. Whether in case the
    Earth is a long Spheroid, the Degrees of Latitude would be greater
    near the Equator, or near the Poles. I conceive they would be
    greater near the Equator. Let the Ellipsis _BDCF._ represent the
    Earth, draw the Line _gp._ which may be a Tangent to the Ellipsis,
    and likewise meeting with the Axis _BC_, and its Transverse _FD_
    (after they are produc’d) make the Triangle _gAp_ an Isosceles, and
    consequently the Angles at the Base _Agp_, _Apg_ each 45 Degrees. I
    say _HC_ will measure the 45 Degrees of Latitude near the Pole, and
    _DH_ (which by Inspection without farther Demonstration is evidently
    bigger) those near the Equator. (I ought to have premis’d that _B_
    and _C_ represent the Poles.) It is plain the Inhabitants at _H_
    will be in the Latitude of 45 Degrees, by reason their horizontal
    Plane _gp_ is by Construction 45 Degrees distant to the Horizon of
    the Inhabitants under the Line at _D_, which lies parallel to the
    Axis _BC_.

    If the Earth be a broad Spheroid, _D_ and _F_ representing the
    Poles, then by the same Method of Reasoning, the Degrees of Latitude
    will be greatest near the Poles: But as the longest and shortest
    Diameter of the Earth has in no wise so great a Disproportion as in
    their Figure (their Difference not exceeding the two hundredth Part
    at most) the Inequality of the Degrees of Latitude will be
    proportionally less; but in all Cases, the long Spheroid makes the
    Degrees greatest near the Equator; and the broad Spheroid those
    greatest near the Poles. I hope in a Fortnight to have the
    Satisfaction of seeing you in _London_, and remain,

    _Sir, Your most Humble Servant._

The Examiner would do well to consider this, lest all the reproachful
Characters he casts upon _Eisensmidius_, should recoil upon himself.
’Tis Prudence, as well as good Manners not to be fierce and vehement in
Censures, for fear of a Mistake, and a Blackblow. However, the pretended
Demonstration which this Examiner brings to prove, that, in case the
Earth was oblong, the Degrees would be greater toward the Poles, does
not affect _Eisensmidius_, for it proceeds upon a Supposition which that
Author does not allow; namely, that the Vertical Lines, or the Lines of
Gravity are to be drawn directly to the Center of the Earth: Whereas
_Eisensmidius_ supposes they ought to be drawn at right Angles, to the
Tangent of each respective Horizon, and would not in all Figures lead
directly to the Center. However, we do not wonder that he is so rude to
Strangers, seeing he bears so hard in other places, upon some of our own
learned Countrymen.

We proceed now to the Theorist’s second Observation, about Lunar
Eclipses and the Shade of the Earth. This Shade is generally presumed to
be exactly round, as the Section of a Cone: And yet the best Astronomers
have doubted of it, and some upon that Occasion have doubted of the
Figure of the Earth. _Kepler_[29] in an Observation of a Lunar total
Eclipse, not finding the Shade of the Earth perfectly round, but rather
oblong, _ut ejus dimetiens à Zona Torrida consurgentis sit minor
dimetiente ejus à Polis Terræ surgentis_, suspects that the Figure of
the Earth was so too. And that we must conclude it to be so from this
Observation, if there was not some Obliquity in the Rays of the Sun,
whereof he shews no Cause or Occasion. _Si retinenda esset, inquit,
rectitudo radiorum, Globus ipse Terræ fiet oviformis, diametro per Polos
longiore._ And a like Observation to this he cites from _Tycho Brahé_,
in a central, or next to central Eclipse of the Moon. These two great
Astronomers, it seems, did not find the Shade of the Earth to be justly
conical; and thereby take away the Reason or lessen the Doubt, which
hindered M. _Deschales_ from concluding (upon another Observation) the
Figure of the Earth to be oval.

The third Observation of the Theorist remains, which is about the Return
of the Sun unto the polar Parts of the Earth, whether that be according
to the Rules of a spherical Surface. The Observations that have been
made hitherto in the Northern Climates about the Return of the Sun to
them, make it quicker than will easily consist with a spherical Figure
of the Earth; much less are they favourable to a gibbous Form: For that
Gibbosity under the Equator must needs hinder the Appearance and
Discovery of the Sun in the respective polar Parts, more than a
spherical Figure would do. Now it hath been observ’d in _Nova Zembla_,
that the returning Sun appear’d to them seventeen Days sooner than they
expected, according to the Rules of Astronomy, the Earth being supposed
truly spherical; and this may be thought an Argument that the Earth is
rather depress’d in its middle Parts. I leave the Matter to farther
Examination. I know ’tis usually imputed to Refractions, but that is
upon the Presumption that the Earth is justly spherical; and a better
Answer (upon that Supposition) I think cannot be found. Though, I think,
it will not be easy in that Way, and upon that Solution to make all the
Phænomena agree, or to shew that the Refractions could make so great a
Difference. However, this is no improper Topick to be consider’d in
reference to the Determination of the Figure of the Earth, and for that
purpose it was noted by the Theorist.

We have now done with that side of the Question, that respects the
oblong Figure of the Earth, and it remains to consider the other Part; I
mean the Opinion of those that make the Earth protuberant about the
Equator, or an oblate Spheroid. This the learned Monsieur _Hugens_[30]
thinks may be prov’d by Experiments made about the different Vibrations
of _Pendulums_ in different Latitudes of the Earth. ’Tis found, he says,
by Experience that a _Pendulum_ near the Equator, makes its Vibrations
slower than another of the same Length, farther from the Equator; and
gives an Instance of it from an Experiment made at _Caiene_ in _America_
(which is four or five Degrees from the Equator) compar’d with another
made at _Paris_. From this Trial he concludes, first, that the
Gravitation is less under and near the Equator than towards the Poles,
according to their several Degrees of Latitude. Then he infers, by
Consequence, that the Land and the Sea are higher towards the Equator,
than towards the Poles. And in Conclusion, that the Figure of the Earth
is protuberant and gibbous in the Middle, and more flatted, or of a
shorter Diameter betwixt Pole and Pole.

In this Conclusion, you see, there are several Things to be considered
according to the Premisses. First, Matter of Fact, concerning the
Inequality of Vibrations in equal Pendulums, according to their
different Latitudes; then the following Inferences made from that
Inequality. As to the Matter of Fact, Monsieur _Hugens_ seems to be
doubtful himself: He does not vouch it from his own Experience, but he
takes it from the Report of Monsieur _Richer_; whose Person or Character
I do not know, nor whether his Relation be extant in Print. However,
Monsieur _Hugens_ speaks dubiously of the Experiment, as such an one
whereof we ought to expect farther Confirmation. For he says[31], _we
cannot trust entirely to this first Observation, whereof we have not any
Circumstance noted to us; and still less to those that are said to be
made at Guadeloupe, (at a greater Latitude,) where the Pendule is said
to be shorter by two Lines than that at Paris.[32] We must expect to be
more justly inform’d of these different Lengths of Pendules, as well
under the Line as in other Climates._ And he refers us to a farther
Trial by his Clocks, rectified for a second Voyage, whereof I have yet
heard no Report. If Matter of Fact be dubious, or Experiments
discordant, we cannot be assur’d of the Conclusion. It were to be
wish’d, that this different Gravitation in different Latitudes, might be
prov’d by other Experiments than that of the Pendulum. Methinks, in
ponderous Bodies, this Difference might become sensible: Not indeed by a
Balance or Scales, for the supposed Decrease of Gravity would have the
same Effect upon the Counterpoise as upon the Body weighed; but by other
Powers that do not depend immediately upon Gravity, as _Springs_, or any
other Engines, or by Rarefactions, or whatsoever hath the Force to
raise, sustain, or remove ponderous Bodies. For such Powers have a less
Effect with us than near the Equator, where the Gravitation of Bodies
that make the Counterpoise, is supposed to be much lessen’d. Neither do
I know if they have try’d the Barometer, whether that will discover any
such Elevation, at, or near the Equator; the Mercury sinking there much
lower than with us, or indeed to nothing, if the Height be comparatively
so great as is supposed. It seems strange, that the Difference of
seventeen Miles (call it little, or call it great, compar’d with the
Semidiameter of the Earth) should have a sensible Effect upon Pendulums
and upon nothing else.

Methinks, that Height of the Equator should make a different Horizon (as
to the Heavens, or the Earth, and Sea) East and West, from North and
South; the Figure of the Earth being a Sphere one way and a Spheroid in
the other. The Sea also must be a prodigious Depth at the Equator;
deeper by seventeen Miles, than at or near the Poles. I would gladly
know what Experience there is of this. Then in reference to our
_Rivers_, how swift and rapid, upon this Hypothesis, must the _Rivers_
be that rise at or near the Equator, or how slow the Motion of those
that ascend towards it, if at all they can be supposed to climb so great
an Hill. The great River of the _Amazons_, in Southern _America_, is in
some Parts of it four or five Degrees from the Equator, others say much
more; yet runs up to the Equator with that vast load of Water, and
throws it self there into the Ocean. In the Northern _America_, _Rio
Negro_ is represented to us, as having a longer Course against the bent
of the Earth, and crossing the Equator, falls down Southward several
Degrees: So the _Nile_ in _Africa_ crosses the Line, and hath a long
Course on this side of it. _Rivers_ do not rise higher by a natural
Course than their Fountain’s Head, and Hydrographers usually assign two
Foot, or two Foot and an half in a Mile for the Descent of _Rivers_, but
upon this Hypothesis there will be fourteen or fifteen Foot (in respect
of the Center of the Earth) for every Mile, in Rivers descending from
the Equator; which is a Precipitation rather than a navigable Stream.
Suppose a Canal cut from the Equator to the Pole, ’twould be a Paradox
to say the Water would not flow in this Chanel, nor descend towards the
Pole, having fourteen or fifteen Foot Descent for every Mile, according
to your Figure of the Earth: And also it would be as great or a greater
Paradox, to suppose that Rivers would rise to the Equator, and with the
same Celerity (as we see they do) upon an Ascent of so many Feet. And
after all, to conclude the Argument, if this Difference of Pendulums be
found, it will still bear a Dispute from what physical Causes that
Difference proceeds.

Thus far we have considered what Arguments have been brought for the
oblate Figure of the Earth from Effects; and have noted such
Observations to be made, as we thought might be useful for Discovery of
Truth, on what side soever it may fall. We are now to consider an
Argument taken from the Causes, and brought by these Authors to prove
the same spheroidical Figure of the Globe. To this purpose they observe,
as is obvious and reasonable, that in the diurnal Motion of the Earth,
the middle Parts about the Equator (where the Circles are greatest, and
consequently the Motion swiftest) would fly off with a greater Force,
and so rise higher than the other Parts that were mov’d in lesser
Circles in the same time, and would have less Force to remove themselves
from the Center of their Motion. This is agreed on all Hands, and was
own’d by the Theorist in a fluid Globe turn’d about its Axis, in case
there was no Impediment to hinder the rising or recession of those
middle Parts. But before we speak to that, on both sides you see it must
be suppos’d and granted, that the Globe of the Earth was once fluid, or
the exterior Orb of it; and we ought to consider when, or at what Time
this was. It must have been surely at the first Formation of the Earth,
when it rose from a Chaos, and before its Parts were consolidated and
grown hard. Supposing then that the interior Orb of the Earth was once
cover’d over with an Orb of Water, the Question will be, how this Orb of
Water came to be cover’d with dry Land, or came to be divided into Land
and Water, as it is now.

[Illustration: A: The Earth, covered with Water.]

[Illustration: B: The Earth, as it is now.]

Let (A) represent an Hemisphere of the Earth, in its first State, when
covered with Water; and (B) the same Hemisphere as it is now. This
Author must tell us, consistently with his Hypothesis, how the Earth
could pass out of one of these States into the other, without passing
through some intermediate State; or how this Change was made in its
Surface, from what Causes, and in what manner. If the first Earth was a
Concretion upon the Face of the Waters, then indeed it would have the
same Figure with the watery Globe under it; but if it was from the
Beginning in this present Form firm and solid, as it is now rocky and
mountainous, then the Question is, _how_ the Parts or Regions of the
Earth about the Equator could be raised above a spherical Figure, or
into an oblate Spheroid, as they say the Earth is now. I take it for
granted, that they suppose the Land raised as well as the Water; for
otherwise the Ocean would overflow at those Parts of the Earth. Suppose
then the Waters raised by the Circumvolution of the Earth, how was the
_Terra firma_ rais’d, or how could it be rais’d by that or any such
Cause?

These Questions are no matter of Difficulty to the Theorist, who
supposes the first Earth to have covered the Waters, and to have taken
their Shape, whatsoever it was, as upon a Mold: Then upon its
Dissolution and Disruption at the Deluge, to have fallen into that
uneven and uninterrupted Form it hath now. But feeling this Method does
not please the Examiner, he must tell us how, upon his Hypothesis, the
Land or solid Parts of the Earth could be rais’d above a spherical
Convexity into such a gibbous Figure, as he supposes them now to have
under the Equator.

Monsieur _Hugens_[33] makes this broad Spheroid of the Earth to have
been the Effect of Gravity in the Formation of the Earth; the Matter
whereof being then turned round, it would, as he thinks, be brought to
settle in this oblate Figure. Very well! But this must be in its very
first Concretion from a Chaos, before it was fix’d and compact as it is
now; for the Rotation of the Earth could have no such effect upon it
after it was hard. Now if you admit the exterior Globe of the Earth, to
have been in such a State betwixt Fixtness and Fluidity, it will lead us
directly to the Theorist’s Hypothesis, which supposes a soft and tender
Concretion at first, over all the Face of the Waters. I say, _over all
the Face of the Waters_: For it must be universal; both because there is
no Reason why these earthy Particles that made the Concretion, should
not fall upon one Part of the Globe, as well as upon another; and also
if they did not fall upon the Equinoctial Parts, how came there to be
Land in that part, or that Land rais’d higher than the rest, as this
Hypothesis will have it?

In these Remarks upon the protuberant Figure of the Earth, you see it is
allow’d, that there would be a greater Tendency from the Center in the
middle Parts of the Globe, and the Waters would rise there, if there was
no Impediment. But the Theorist did believe that the Vortex, or
circumfluent Orb was streighter, or of a shorter Diameter there than
through the Poles; and consequently the Waters having less room to
dilate, would be press’d and detruded towards the Poles. These Authors,
it may be, will allow no Vortices to the Planets; but then they must
assign some other sufficient Cause to carry the Planets in their
periodical Motions (and with the same Velocity for innumerable Ages)
about their common Center; and the Secondary about their Primary: As
also what gives them their diurnal Rotation, and the different Position
of their Axes. Neither would it be easy to conceive, how a great Mass of
fluid and volatile Matter, having no Current, or Determination any one
way, and being often check’d in its progressive Motion, should not fall
into circular Motions, or into Vortices of one sort or other; especially
if you place in this Mass some great solid Bodies turned about their
Axes.

These are more general Problems; and when they are determin’d with
Certainty, we shall better judge of the Particulars that depend upon
them. But I say still, that neither Figure of the Earth, oblong or
oblate, can be prov’d from the Rotation of the Earth and its Gravity,
without supposing the Globe form’d into that Shape before it came to be
harden’d, before it came to be loaded and stiffen’d by Rocks and stony
Mountains. Therefore upon both Hypotheses it must be allow’d, that there
was such a Time, such a State of the Earth, when its tender Orb was
capable of those Impressions and Modifications; and that Orb must have
lain above the Waters, not under them, nor radicated to the Bottom of
them, for then such Cause could not have had such an Effect upon it. And
in the last place, this Concretion upon the Waters must have been
throughout all the Parts of the Earth, or all the Parts of the Land
which are now rais’d above a spherical Surface; and no reason can be
given, as we noted before, why the rest should not be cover’d as well as
those. So that in effect both the Hypotheses suppose that all the watery
Globe was at first cover’d with an earthy Concretion.

Now this being admitted, you have confirm’d the main Point of the
_Theory_: Namely, that the Abyss was once, or at first cover’d with a
terrestrial Concretion, or an Orb of Earth. Grant this, and we’ll
compound for the rest, let the Earth at present be of what Figure it
will: If there was such an original Earth that cover’d the Waters, both
the Form and Equilibration of the Earth may easily appear, and how by a
Dissolution of it a Deluge might arise. But as to the present Earth, the
Theorist never affirm’d that its Figure was oval, but he[34] noted such
Observations made or to be made, as he thought might be proper to
determine its Figure, and still desires that they may be pursued. He
added also, that he would be glad to receive any new ones, that would
demonstrate the precise Figure of the Earth. And accordingly, he is
willing to consider in this Particular and all others, the Arguments and
Remarks of such eminent Authors, as have lately given a new Light to the
System of the World.

This may suffice to have spoken in general concerning these two
spheroidical Figures of the Earth. We must now consider what particular
Objections are made by the Examiner against its oval Figure. He says,
_p. 103, 104_, _&c._ admitting the oval Figure of that first Earth, it
would not be capable however, to give a Course to the Rivers from the
polar Parts, towards the Equinoctial. And his Reason is this; because
the same Causes which cast the Abyss or the Ocean towards the Poles,
would also keep the Rivers from descending from the Poles: But there is
no Parity of Reason betwixt the Abyss or the Ocean, and the Rivers. We
see in the Flux and Reflux of the Ocean, let the Cause of it be what it
will, it hath not that Effect upon Rivers, nor upon Lakes, nor upon
lesser Seas; yet the Circum-rotation of the Earth continues the same.
And his confounding the Ocean and Rivers in the ante-diluvian Earth is
so much the worse, seeing there never was an Ocean and Rivers together
in that Earth. While there was an open Ocean, there were no Rivers, and
when there were Rivers, there was no open Ocean, but an inclos’d Abyss:
So though he makes large Transcripts there and elsewhere out of the
Theory, he does not seem always to have well digested the Method of it.

After this Objection, the Examiner charges the Theorist with want of
Skill in Logick; but his Charge is grounded upon another
Misunderstanding or Misrepresentation. He pretends there, _p. 107._ that
the Theorist hath made such a Ratiocination as this. _All Bodies by
reason of the Earth’s diurnal Rotation, do endeavour to recede from the
Axis of their Motion; but by reason of the Pressure of the Air, and the
Streightness of the Orb, they cannot recede from the Axis of their
Motion, therefore they will move towards the Poles, where they will come
nearer to the Axis of their Motion._ These are the Examiner’s Words in
that Place, where he says he will put the Theorist’s Reasoning in other
Words: But I do not like that Method, unless the Examiner were a more
judicious or faithful Paraphrast than he seems to be: Let every one be
tried by their own Words, and if there be any false Logick or Nonsense
in the forecited Words of the Examiner, let it fall upon their Author.
The Theorist said[35], that Bodies, by reason of the Earth’s Motion did,
_conari à centro sur motûs recederè_: These Words this Translator
renders, _endeavour to recede from the Axis of their Motion_; and by
changing the Word _Center_ into _Axis_ (whether carelesly or wilfully I
know not) of plain Sense he hath made Nonsense; and then makes this
Conclusion, _p. 108._ (which follows indeed from his own Words, but not
from those of the Theorist) _because all Bodies do endeavour to recede
from the Axis of their Motion, therefore they will endeavour to go to
the Axis of their Motion_.

The Theorist’s Argumentation was plainly this: Seeing in the Rotation of
the Earth, Bodies tend from the Center of their Motion, if they meet
with an Impediment there, they will move laterally in the next easiest
and openest way; and therefore the Waters under the Equator being
stopp’d in their first Tendency, would divert towards the Poles;
wherein, I think, there is no false Logick. That there was no Impediment
there, he must prove by other Arguments than his own Dictates or bare
Assertion, which will not pass for a Proof.

He proceeds now to discourse of the centrifugal Force and the Effects of
it, together with Gravity: But he should have given us a better Notion
of the centrifugal Force, than what he sets down there; for he says (_p.
110. l. 24._) _A centrifugal Force, is that Force by which a Body is
drawn towards the Center_: This is a strange Signification of that Word.
And in the next Page (_p. 111. l. 22._) he says, by this centrifugal
Force, Bodies _endeavour to recede from the Center of their Motion_;
which is true, but contrary to what he said just before. I think ’tis
Gravity, not centrifugal Force, that brings Bodies towards the Center.

But to pass by this Contradiction, and to proceed: What he says, from
others, about the Proportions of the centrifugal Force and Gravity in
Bodies turn’d round, and particularly in Fluids, how they would fly off
more or less, according to the Circles of their Motion, was always (as
hath been mention’d before) suppos’d and allow’d by the Theorist, if
there was no Restraint or Pressure upon one Part more than another of
the fluid Globe: So that he might have spared here six or seven Pages.

In like manner, he might have spar’d what he hath transcrib’d in his
following Pages from those excellent Authors we referr’d to before,
about calculating the Diminutions of Gravity made by the centrifugal
Force, in different Latitudes; with other such Excursions. These, I say,
might have been spar’d, as needless upon this Occasion, or to the
Confutation of the _Theory_, till the principal Point, upon which they
depend, be better prov’d. I made bold to say, they were transcrib’d from
those Authors, as any one may see that pleases to consult the Originals,
_Newt. Philos. Nat. Princ. Math. l. 3. prop. 18, 19, 20._ _Hugens
Discour. de la cause de la Pesanteur, p._ 147, 148, _&c._ And this
_French_ Discourse of Monsieur Hugens, he hath not so much as once
nam’d, though he hath taken so much from it. And after all, when these
Things are determin’d in Speculation, it will still be a Question what
the true physical Causes of them are.

At last, for a farther Confirmation of the broad spheroidical Figure of
the Earth, he adds an Observation from the Planet _Jupiter_, which is
found to be of such a Figure. And _therefore_, he says, _p. 137, 138._
_We need not doubt, but that the Earth, which is a Planet like the rest,
and turns round its Axis, as they do, is of the same Figure_. He might
as well conclude, that every Planet, as well as the Earth, is of the
same Figure. And what Reason can he give, why all the Planets that have
a Rotation upon their Axis, are not broad Spheroids, as well as those
two which he supposes to be so? If that be a sufficient Cause, and be
found in other Planets as well as those, why hath it not the same
Effect? Or he might as well conclude, that the Earth hath a perpetual
Equinox, because _Jupiter_ hath so. This is the same Fault which he hath
so often committed, of measuring all the Works of God by one or two. If
a Man was transported into the Moon, the nearest Planet; or into
_Mercury_ that is so near the Sun, or into _Saturn_, (or any of his
_Satellites_) that is so remote from it; would he not find, think you, a
much different Face and State of those Planets, from what we have upon
this Earth? Inhabitants of a different Constitution, the Furniture of
every World different, Animals, Plants, Waters, and other inanimate
Things: As also different Vicissitudes of Days and Nights, and the
Seasons of the Year; according to their different Positions, Revolutions
and Forms? Therefore not without Reason we noted before, how much the
Narrowness of some Mens Spirits, Thoughts and Observations, confine them
to a particular Pattern and Model, nor considering the infinite Variety
of the divine Works, whereof we are not competent Judges.

Now comes in his rude Censure of Dr. _Eisensmidius_, both for his
Mathematicks and bad Logick, or want of _common Sense_; but to this we
have spoken before. He also, in the same Paragraph, _p. 142._ wonders at
the Theorist’s strange Logick, to make the centrifugal Force of Bodies
upon the Earth, to be the Cause of its oblong Figure. That indeed would
be strange Logick if it was made the proximate Cause of it. But that is
not the Theorists’s Logick but the Examiner’s, as it is distorted and
misrepresented by him. The Theorist suppos’d the Pressure of that Tumour
of the Waters, occasion’d by the centrifugal Force (as its original
Cause) to be the immediate Cause of the oblong Figure of the Earth; and
that Pressure suppos’d, there is nothing illogical in the Inference. He
had formerly taken Notice, _p. 101, 103._ of this Reason, from the
Streightness of the Orb in that Part, when he gave the Theorist’s
Account of that Figure; but he thought fit to forget it now, that his
Charge might not appear lame.

This, Sir, is a short Account of this Author’s Objections; but there are
some Things so often repeated by him, that we are forc’d to take Notice
of them more than once; as that about Miracles and final Causes. He
truly notes, _p. 31._ that to be _a much easier and shorter Way of
giving an account of the Deluge_, or other Revolutions of Nature: But
the Question is not, which is the shortest and easiest Way, but which is
the truest. No Man in his Senses can question the divine Omnipotency,
God could do these Things purely miraculously, if he pleas’d; but the
Thing to be consider’d is, whether, according to the Methods of
Providence, in the Changes and Revolutions of the natural World, the
Course of Nature and of natural Causes is not made use of so far as they
will go. Both _Moses_ and St. _Peter_ mention material Causes, but
always including the divine Word and Superintendency. The Theorist does
not think (as is sufficiently testified in several Places) that purely
material and mechanical Causes, guided only by the Laws of Motion, could
form this Earth, and the Furniture of it; and does readily believe all
Miracles recorded in Holy Writ, or elsewhere, well grounded: But
Miracles of our own making or imagining, want Authority to support them.
Some Men when they are at a loss in the Progress of their Work, call in
a Miracle to relieve them in their Distress. You know what hath been
noted both by [36]Philosophers and others to that purpose.

As to final Causes, the Contemplation of them is very useful to moral
Purposes, and of great Satisfaction to the Mind, where we can attain to
them. But we must not pretend to prove a thing to be so or so in Nature,
because we fancy it would be better so; nor deny it to be in such a
manner, because to our Mind it would be better otherwise. Almighty Power
and Wisdom, that have the whole Complex and Composition of the Universe
in View, take other Measures than we can comprehend or account for. Even
in this small Earth that we inhabit, there are several Plants and
Animals, which to us appear useless or noxious, and yet no doubt would
be found proper for this State, if we had the whole Prospect and Scheme
of Providence. As to efficient Causes, they must be either material or
immaterial, and whatsoever is prov’d to be the immediate Effect of an
immaterial Cause, is so much the more acceptable to the Theorist, as it
argues a Power above Matter. But as to purely material Causes, they must
be mechanical; there being no other Modes, or Powers of Matter (at least
in the Opinion of the Theorist) but what are mechanical: And to explain
Effects by such Causes, is properly natural Science.

We have taken Notice before of this Author’s ambiguous use of Words,
without declaring in what Sense he uses them: And he is no less
ambiguous as to his Opinions. When he speaks of the Origin and Formation
of the WORLD, he does not tell us what he means by that Word; whether
the great Compound of the Universe, or that small Part only where we
reside. His _centrifugal_ Force he interprets in contrary Senses, or in
contrary Words, and reserves the Sense to himself. Sometimes he speaks
of the Motion of the Sun, and sometimes of the Motion of the Earth, and
sticks to no System: Neither does he tell us what he means by the
_Mosaical_ Abyss, or _Tehom Rabbah_, which the Theorist supposes to have
been broken up at the Deluge. We ought to know in what Sense and
Signification he uses Words or Phrases: at least if he use them in a
different Sense from that of the Theorist’s.

I know, _Sir_, you will also take Notice of his hard Words and coarse
Language, as, _that’s false, that’s absurd, that’s ridiculous_. This,
you will say, is not the usual Language amongst Gentlemen; but we find
it too usual with some Writers, according to their particular Temper and
Experience in the World. For my part, I think Rudeness or Disingenuity
in examining the Writings of another Person, fall more heavy (in the
Construction of fair Readers) upon him that uses them, than upon him
that suffers them. I am,

_SIR_,

_Your most humble Servant_,

_FINIS_.

Footnote 22:

  _Engl. Theor._ _Chap._ VIII. p. 112, _&c._

Footnote 23:

  _Cic. de Nat. Dict. l. 1._

Footnote 24:

  _Galil. Syst. Cos._ _p._ 133. _Hugen. Cosmetô._ _c._ 2. _p._ 115.

Footnote 25:

  _Engl. p. 230, &c. Lat. p. 107._

Footnote 26:

  _Cosmoth. p. 135._

Footnote 27:

  _l. s. Prop. 4._

Footnote 28:

  _Ibid._ Prop. 56.

Footnote 29:

  _Ephames. par. 2. ad An. 1624._

Footnote 30:

  P. 145.

Footnote 31:

  _Disc. de la Pesant. p. 149._

Footnote 32:

  _Ibid. p. 165._

Footnote 33:

  _M. Hugens de la Pesant, p. 152. Il est a croire, que la Terre a pris
  cette figure, lors qu’ elli a esté assemblee par l’effect de la
  Pesanteux: sa matiere sient des mouvement circulatoire de 24 heures._

Footnote 34:

  _Lat. Theor. lib. 2. p. 185._

Footnote 35:

  _Theor. l. 2. 5. p. 186._

Footnote 36:

  _Plat. Cratyl. m. p. 425. Ἐπειάν τι ἀπορῶσιν, ἐτὶ τάς μηχανὰς
  καταθεύγουσι, θεοῦς αἴροντεσ. Cum rei alicujus engusios, ad machines
  consugiunt & D inducunt._ This is also remark’d and render’d in other
  Words by _Tully_ in _Nat. Dor. l. 1._ Cum _explicare argumenti exitum
  non pet, confugitis ad Deum_. St. _Austin_ also speaking about the
  supercelestial Waters, hath noted this Method, and reprov’d it, in
  these Words, _Nec quisquam echos refellere, ut decat secundum
  omnpotentism Dei sunt possibatis nos credere equas etiam am era quam
  novimus atque sentimus, corpori in que sunt sydera, super sufas: Nunc
  enim quam Deus rerum secundum Scripturam ejus, nec qu convenit, non
  solus quad in vel ad misacutum omnipotent._ You see Discretion and
  Moderation is to be used in these and such like Matters.




 ● Transcriber’s Notes:
    ○ Text that was in italics is enclosed by underscores (_italics_).
    ○ Footnotes have been moved to follow the sections in which they are
      referenced.



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