THESE words contain in them two Parts, 1. An Antecedent or Doctrine, All these things shall be dissolved. 2. A Consequent, or Inference thereupon, What manner of persons ought we to be?

[Page 2]The Doctrine, here only briefly hinted, or summarily proposed, is laid down more fully in the precedent Verse; But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the Elements shall melt with fer­vent heat, the Earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.

These words are by the generality of Inter­preters, Ancient and Modern, understood of the final destruction or dissolution of Hea­ven and Earth: in which sense I shall chuse rather to accept them at present, than with the Reverend and Learned Dr. Hammond, and some few others, to stem the Tide of Expositors, and apply them to the destru­ction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Polity. I say then,

That this World and all things therein contained, shall one day be dissolved and de­stroyed by Fire.

By Heaven and Earth in this place, the most rational Interpreters of Scripture, do un­derstand only the whole Compages of this sub­lunary World, and all the Creatures that are in it; all that was destroyed by the Flood in the days of Noah, and is now secured from perishing so again, that I may borrow Dr. Hammond's words, in his Annotations on this place. And again, the word Hea­vens [Page 3] (saith he) being an Equivocal word, is used either for the superior Heavens, whe­ther Empyreal or Ethereal, or for the sublu­nary Heavens, the Air (as the word World is either the whole Compages of the superior or inferior, or else only of the sublunary lower World) we may here resolve, that the [...] and [...], Heaven and Host, or Elements thereof, are literally the sublunary aereal Heavens, and all that is therein, Clouds and Meteors, &c. Fowls and flying Creatures, and so, fit to join with the Earth and Works that are therein.

In prosecution of this Proposition, and in order to the Proof and Confirmation, and likewise the clearing and illustration of it, I shall, (1.) Give you what I find concerning the dissolution of the World; 1. In the holy Scri­pture. 2. In Ancient Christian Writers. 3. In the Heathen Philosophers and Sages.

(2.) I shall endeavour to give some answer to these seven Questions, which are obvious and usually made concerning it.

1. Whether there be any thing in Nature, which might prove and demonstrate; or argue and infer a future Dissolution of the World?

2. Whether shall this Dissolution be brought about and effected by Natural, or by Extra­ordinary Means and Instruments; and what [Page 4] those Means and Instruments shall be?

3. Whether shall the Dissolution be gra­dual or sudden?

4. Whether shall there be any Signs and Fore-runners of it?

5. At what Period of Time shall the World be dissolved?

6. How far shall this Conflagration ex­tend? Whether to the Ethereal Heavens, and all the Host of them, Sun, Moon and Stars, or to the Aereal only?

7. Whether shall the Heavens and Earth be wholly dissipated and destroyed, or only refined and purified?

1. THen, Let us consider what we find delivered in the holy Scriptures, concerning the Dissolution of the World. And first of all, This place, which I have made choice of for my Text, is in my opinion the most clear and full, as to this particular, in the whole Scripture; and will give light for the Solution of most of the proposed Que­stions. V. 10. The day of the Lord shall come as a thief, &c. This answers the third Question, Whether the Dissolution shall be gradual or sudden? Wherein the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat, the Earth also, and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up. And again, V. 12. Wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat. This answers the second Question, What the Means and Instruments of this Dissolution shall be? V. 13. Nevertheless [Page 6] we according to his promise, look for a new Heaven and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. This gives some light toward the answering of the last Question, Whether shall the Heavens and the Earth be wholly burnt up and destroyed, or only renewed and purified? These Words as clearly as they seem to refer to the Dissolution of the World, yet Dr. Hammond doubts not to be understood of the remarkable destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish State, he thus pa­raphrasing them.

But this Judgment of Christ, so remark­able on the Jews, shall now shortly come, and that very discernably; and the Temple shall suddenly be destroyed, the greater part of it burnt, and the City and People utterly consumed.

Seeing then this destruction shall thus in­volve all, and now approacheth so near, what an engagement doth this lay upon us to live the most pure strict lives that ever men lived?

Looking for the coming of Christ, for our deliverance, and by our Christian lives quick­ning and hastning God to delay it no lon­ger; that Coming of his, I say, which as it signifies great mercy to us, so it signifies very sharp destruction to the whole Jewish State.

Instead of which we look for a new Chri­stian State, wherein all provision is made by Christ for righteousness to inhabit, according to the promise of Christ concerning the puri­ty [Page 8] that he should plant in the Evangelical State.

How he makes out and confirms this Paraphrase, see in his Annotations upon this place. So confident is he of the Truth of this his Interpretation, that he censures the usual one as a great Mistake, in his Annota­tion on v. 10. where he thus writes; What is here thus expressed by S. Peter, is ordina­rily conceived to belong to the end of the World, and by others applyed to the end of this World, and the beginning of the Millennium, or thousand years. And so, as S. Peter here saith, v. 16. many other places in S. Paul's Epistles, and in the Gospel, especi­ally Matth. 24. are mistaken and wrested▪ That it doth not belong to either of those but to this fatal day of the Jews, sufficient­ly appears by the purport of this whole Epistle, which is, to arm them with Constancy and Perseverance till that day come; and particularly, in this Chapter, to confute them who object against the Truth of Christ's Predictions, and resolve it should not come at all: Against whom he here opposes the Certainty, the Speediness, and the Terribleness of its coming. That which hath given occasion to those other common Mistakes, is especially the Hideousness of those Judg­ments, which fell upon that People of the [Page 9] Jews, beyond all that ever before are re­ [...]ated to have fallen upon them, or indeed any other people, which made it necessary [...]or the Prophets, which were to describe it [...] and who use Tropes and Figures, and not [...]lain Expressions, to set down their Predicti­ [...]ns) to express it by these high Phrases, of [...]he passing away and dissolving of Heaven and Earth and Elements, &c. which sounding very tragically, are mistaken for the great [...]nd final Dissolution of the World. So far the Doctor. Two things there are in this Chapter, which seem to contradict this In­ [...]erpretation; First, That the Destruction [...]ere spoken of, is compared with Noah's [...]lood; and the Heaven and Earth to be dis­ [...]olved by this, made parallel, and of equal extent to the World destroyed by that. Of this the Doctor was well aware, and there­fore grants, that the 7th Verse, But the Hea­vens and the Earth which are now, by the [...]me word are kept in store, reserved unto fire [...]gainst the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men, is to be understood of the general and final destruction of the World by fire, but the following Verses to be an Answer to the first part of the Atheists Objection, viz. Where is the promise of his coming? To me it seems, that all refer to the same matter. The se­cond thing which seems to contradict the [Page 10] Doctor's Interpretation, is, the Apostles citing for the instruction and confirmation of the Believers, and in answer to the Atheists Objection (Where is the promise of his coming? [...] that place of the Psalmist, Psal. 90.4. Tha [...] one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. For th [...] Apostle seems to suppose, that the time o [...] Christ's coming, might possibly be a thousand years off; and that they were not to thin [...] much, or distrust the promise, if it were so for though it were predicted as thin [...] shortly to come, yet they were to conside [...] that a thousand years in God's sight, is but very short time; so that it might be fore tol [...] as shortly to come, though it were a thousand years off. Whereas it might seem improper to mention a thousand years to support them in expectation of an Event th [...] was not twenty years to come.

Another place where mention is made [...] Christ's coming to Judgment, and the Diss [...] lution of the World, is Matth. 24. to whic [...] may be added as parallel, Mark 13. an [...] Luke 21. In which places you have con [...] derable, 1. The Suddenness of Christ's coming, v. 27. As the lightning comes out of t [...] East, and shineth even unto the West, so sh [...] the coming of the Son of Man be. 2. The Sig [...] of his coming, v. 29. Immediately after t [...] [Page 11] tribulation of those days, shall the Sun be darkned, and the Moon shall not give her light, and the Stars shall fall from Heaven, and the powers of Heaven shall be shaken. 3. The manner of his coming, v. 30. And then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven: and then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn, when they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet, and they shall gather together his Elect from the four Winds, from one end of Heaven to the other. 4. The Uncertainty of the time of his coming, and this dissolution as to us, But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the Angels in Heaven: and Mark adds, neither the Son, but the Father only.

All this Prophecy Dr. Hammond under­stands of the destruction of the City and Temple of Jerusalem, and whole Nation of the Jews; as may be seen in his Paraphrase and Annotations upon this place. And in­deed our Saviour himself seems to limit it to this, saying, v. 24. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled. For if these Pro­phecies look further than the destruction of Jerusalem, even to Christ's coming to Judg­ment, how could it be true, that that gene­ration [Page 12] should not pass away till all those things were fulfilled? Whereas we see, that that Generation is long since passed away, and yet the end is not yet? And indeed Expositors that understand them of the end of the World, and Christ's second coming to Judgment, are hard put to it to answer this Objection. S. Chrysostom will have this word [...] to be understood not of the Ge­neration of men then living, but of the Ge­neration of the faithful, which should not fail till the end of the World. [...] (saith he) [...], &c. He denominates a Generation not on­ly from living together in the same time, but from having the same form and manner of re­ligious Worship and Polity; as in that place, This is the generation of them that seek thee, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Beza under­stands [...] of the present Age, and will have it to be of the same valor with [...] in Hebrew, and [...] to refer not to all particulars mentioned in this Chapter, but only to those which are spoken of the de­struction of the City and Nation of the Jews; But (saith he) if any one urgeth the universal Particle, Vertere licebit, Fiant omnia, viz. quae ultimam illam diem praecessura dixit. Nam [Page 13] ab illo tempore coeperunt fieri, & adhuc per­severant illa signa, suo demum tempore. Filio hominis venturo.

But on the other side, 1. Some passages there are in this Chapter, which are hardly applicable to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Dissolution of the Jewish Common­wealth; as the appearing of the Sign of the Son of man in heaven, and the Tribes seeing the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And his sending his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet. 2. The coming of Christ is in like man­ner described in places which undoubtedly speak of his coming to Judgment at the end of the World. As in 1 Cor. 15.52. mention is made of the Trumpets sounding at the time of Christ's coming: and 1 Thess. 4.16. it is said, The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and v. 17. We that are alive shall be caught up together with them [that are risen] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the Air. All which places are perfectly parallel, and seem manifestly to al­lude to the fore-mentioned words, Matth. 24.30, 31. I am apt to think, that these Pro­phecies may have a double respect; one to the City, Temple, and Nation of the Jews; another to the whole World at the great [Page 14] day of Doom: and that the former is indeed Typical of the latter: and so they have a double completion; the first in the destru­ction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Polity: In reference to which, it is truly said, This ge­neration shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled. The second in the final Dissolution of the World, which is yet to come.

But to proceed, Another place which is usually understood of the Dissolution of the World by fire, is 2 Thess. 1.7, 8. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heave [...] with his mighty Angels in flaming fire, &c▪ Other parallel places may be seen, Rev. 6▪ 12, 13, 14. Rev. 10.6. Rev. 21.1. And [...] saw a new Heaven and a new Earth, for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passe [...] away, and there was no more Sea, Heb. 12▪ 26, 27. These places speak more directly of the Dissolution of the World, and th [...] coming of Christ to Judgment. Others ther [...] are that speak only concerning the time o [...] it, 1 Pet. 4.7. But the end of all things is a [...] hand. James 5.9. Behold the Judge standet [...] before the door. 1 John 2.18. Little children it is the last time; or as some translat [...] it, the last hour, [...]. Heb. 10.37▪ Yet a little while, and he that shall come, wil [...] come, and will not tarry. [...] [Page 15] Luke 18.17. I tell you he will avenge them speedily. All these places the fore-mentioned Dr. Hammond still applies to that famous Pe­riod of the destruction of the City, Temple and Polity of the Jews: and in conclusion hath left us but one place in the New Testa­ment, to prove the general Conflagration of the World, viz. 2 Pet. 7.7.

Now because some have been offended at these Interpretations of his; others have spoken very flightingly of them: I shall briefly sum up what hath been alleged in de­fence of them, by this great man.

1. That the Prophets use to set down their Predictions in Tropes and Figures, and not in plain expressions, (their Style being Poetical). And therefore in describing those hideous Judgments which fell upon that people of the Jews, beyond all that ever before fell upon them, or indeed any other people, they found it necessary to employ those High and Tragical Phrases of the passing away and dissolving Heaven, and Earth, and Ele­ments. And that this was the manner of the Prophets, may be proved; because we find the destruction of other places descri­bed in as High Strains, as Lofty and Tra­gical Expressions as this of Jerusalem. For example, that of Idumaea, Esay 34.9. The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and [Page 16] the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever. And in the 4th Verse he seems but to Preface to this De­struction in these words, And all the host of Heaven shall be dissolved, and the Heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the Vine, and as a falling Fig from the Fig tree; For my Sword shall be bathed in Heaven: Behold it shall come down upon Idumaea. And in the Burden of Babylon. Chap. 13.8, 9. we have these words, Behold the day of the Lord Cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the Land desolate: For the Stars of Heaven and the constellations there­of shall not give their light: The Sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the Moon shall not cause her light to shine.

2. All the Predictions in that famous place, Matth. 24. to which all other places in the New Testament relating to this mat­ter are parallel, are by our Saviour himself restrained to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the full completion of them limited to the duration of that Age: Verse 34. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. What rea­son then can we have to extend them fur­ther;

[Page 17]3. In most of the places where this com­ing of Christ is mentioned, it is spoken of as near, and at hand; as in the places last cited. Now, (saith the Learned Doctor) in his Note upon Luke 18.7. I tell you he will avenge them speedily: All which if (when it is said to approach and to be at the door) it belonged to the Day of Judgment (now after so many hundred years not yet come) what a [...] were this? what a de­laying of his coming? and consequently, what an Objection against the truth of the Christian Religion? As Mahomet having promised after his death he would presently return to life, and having not performed his Promise in a thousand years is by us justly condemned as an Impostor.

3. That this place of S. Peter, out of which I have taken my Text, doth not be­long to the end of the World sufficiently appears (saith he) by the purport of this whole Epistle, which is to arm them with constancy and perseverance till that Day come, and particularly in this Chapter to confute them who object against the truth of Christs Predictions, and resolve it should not come at all; against whom he here op­poses the certainty, the speediness, and the teribleness of its Coming. And for that other famous Place, 2 Thessal. 1.8, 9. that [Page 18] it belongs to the same Period; see how he makes out in his Annotations.

I shall now superadd some places out of the Old Testament, which seem to speak of the Dissolution of the World, Job 14.12. Man lieth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more. Psalm 102.5, 6. quoted Heb. 1.10, 11. Of old hast thou laid the foundati­ons of the Earth, and the Heavens are the works of thy hands. They shall perish but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. Esay 34.4. And all the host of Heaven shall be dissolved, and the Heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their host shall fall down as a leaf falleth from the Vine, &c. Esay 51.6. The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the Earth shall wax old like a garment. Joel 2.31. The Sun shall be turned into dark­ness, and the Moon into blood, before that great and terrible day of the Lord comes. Malachi 4.1. Behold the day cometh that shall burn like an Oven, &c. Deut 32, 22. For a fire is kindled in my anger, and shall burn to the lowest Hell, and shall consume the Earth with her encrease, and set on fire the foundations of the Mountains. I must confess that the Prophetick Books are full of figurative Expressions, being written in [Page 19] a Poetick Style, and according to the strain of the Oriental Rhetorick, which is much different from the Euporean, affecting lofty and turned Metaphors and excessive Hyper­bola's and Aggravations, which would either sound harsh to our Ears, or import a great deal more to us than they did to them. This is obvious to any one that reads their Books; and may clearly be demonstrated from the Titles that their Kings assumed to themselves as well Anciently as lately, viz. Sons of the Sun, Brethren of the Sun and Moon, Partners of the Stars, Lions Crown­ed in the Throne of the World, Endued with the strength of the whole Heaven, and Vir­tue of the Firmament. Now we cannot possibly imagine them so vain as to think themselves literally to be such: no sure, all they meant by these Expressions was that they were great, and honourable, and power­ful. Now the Prophetick Books of the Old Testament being written in a Style somewhat conformable to the Oratory of those Countreys, are not (I humbly con­ceive) in every tittle to be so exactly scan­ned and literally expounded, but so to be interpreted as a Jew or an Asiatick would then have understood them. And this I ra­ther think, because there be divers passages in the Prophets, which cannot be verified in [Page 20] strict literal sense; As in the place before quoted, Esay 34.9. It is said of the streams of Idumaea that should be turned into Pitch, and the dust thereof into Brimstone; and the Land thereof should become burning Pitch; and should not be quenched night nor day, but the smoke thereof should go up for ever. And of the City of Tyre it is said Ezek. 26.14. It shall be built no more. And verse 19. When I shall make thee a desolate City like the Cities that are not inhabited, when I shall bring up the Deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee. And verse 21. which is thrice repeated, I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, thou shalt never be found again, saith the Lord God. And yet we see that the City of Tyre, though it was in­deed wholly dispeopled at that time, the Inhabitants transferring themselves into A­frica, when it was besieged by Nebuchad­nezzar; yet was it afterward peopled again, and continues a City inhabited to this day. And of Babylon, it is said that there should none remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it should be desolate for ever. Jer. 51.62. Esay 13.20. and of the Land of Babylon, Verse 29. that it should be a de­solation without an Inhabitant. And though indeed this Prophesy was I think as to [Page 21] the City at last verified in the Letter; yet did Babylon long continue a great City af­ter this Paraphrase: And the Land of Ba­bylon is now inhabited, there being at this day a great City not far from the place where Babylon stood. So that these places import no more, then that there should be a very great Destruction and Devastation of those Cities and Countries. As for those places in the Old and New Testament, where­in mention is made of the last Days and the last Times, it is clear that they are to be understood of the Age of the Messiah, all the time from the Exibition of the Mes­siah to the end of the World, Esay 2.1▪ And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the Mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the Mountains, and shall be exalted above the Hills, and all Na­tions shall flow to it; which very words we have repeated Michah 4.1. So that Pro­phesie of Joel 2.28. quoted Acts 2.17. And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, &c. is to be understood. Hence the last Days have among the Jews proverbially signified the days of the Messiah, as Doctor Hammon in his Annotations upon this place tells us; who also Notes, that in that place of Joel, the last days do literally signifie [Page 22] the last days of the Jews, immediately pre­ceding their destruction, called there the Great and terrible Day of the Lord. So Heb. 1.2. by [...], in these last days is meant the days of the Messias. So 1 Pe [...] 1.20. 2 Pet. 3.3. 1 Tim. 4.1. 2 Tim. 3.1▪ mention is made of the last days in this sense In like manner the end of the World, [...], Heb. 9.26. But now onc [...] in the end of the World hath he appeared t [...] put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself. An [...] [...] the Ends of the World, i [...] 1 Cor. 10.11. Ʋpon whom the ends of th [...] World are come, signifie the Age of the Messias, though indeed the former seems mor [...] peculiarly to denote the shutting up of th [...] Jewish Age or Oeconomy.

2. I Proceed now to what the Ancient Fathers of the Church and Christian Writers have delivered concerning the Dissolution of the World.

[Page 23]That there shall be a Dissolution of this World, and that it shall be by Fire, is so cer­tain and clear among them, that it would be superfluous to cite Particulars to prove [...]t: nay, so general and unanimous is the consent of all Christians in this Point, that, as Origen observes in his third [...], and the learned Doctor Hakewill after him, whereas there can hardly be named any Ar­ticle of our Faith, which some Hereticks have not presumed to I [...]pugne or call in Questi­on, yet not any to be met with who que­stions this; but herein all agree, being com­pelled (saith Origen) by the Authority of the Scriptures. As for the time of this Dissolu­tion the Ancient Christians held it to be at hand, as might easily be proved by many Testimonies, were it not granted on all [...]ands. And here it may be worth the ob­serving, that the longer the World stood, the further off generally have Christians set the day of Judgment, and end of it. Many of the Ancients did conceive, that the Dissolu­tion should be at the end of six thousand years. As for Example, Justin Martyr in Quoest. & Resp. ad Orthodoxos, if he be the Author of that Piece, where this Question (When the end of the World should be?) be­ing put, the Answer is, [...], &c. We may rational­ly [Page 24] conjecture and conclude from many Scripture Expressions, that they are in the right who say, that the World will last six thousan [...] years. For in one place it saith, in these las [...] days, and in another, Upon whom the ends of the World are come, and in a third, Whe [...] the fulness of time was come. Now it i [...] evident that these things were spoken in th [...] sixth Millenary.

Irenoeus adv. haeres. lib. 5. cap. ult. Wh [...] gathers so much from t [...] Similitude of th [...] six days Creation, after which six days wa [...] the Sabbath, that is, the day of Rest; H [...] autem (saith he) est & praeteritorum narr [...] tio, & futurorum prophetia. Dies enim [...] nus mille annos significabat, sicut Scriptura, testantur; 2 Pet. 3. Mille anni ante Dominum sic [...] Dies unus: ergo sicut consummatus fuit mundus in sui creatione intra sex dierum spatium, & postea quies; sic in sui fine consummabitur intra spatium sex millium annorum, deinde vera & perpetua quies subsequetur [...] This is both a Narration or History of what is past, and a Prophesie of things to come For one day signified a thousand years, as the Scriptures testifie, A thousand years in the sight of God are but as one day. There­fore as the World at the first Creation was consummated in the space of six days, and afterwards followed the Sabbath or [Page 25] Rest; so in the end its duration shall be con­ [...]ummated within the space of six thousand [...]ears; and then shall follow the true and [...]erpetual Rest.

To these I might add Lactantius, in his Se­ [...]enth Book of Institut. Cap. 14. who useth he same Argumentation with Irenoeus, Ergo uoniam sex diebus cuncta Dei opera perfecta [...]unt: per secula sex, id est, sex annorum mil­ [...]ia manere in hoc statu mundum necesse est. Dies enim magnus Dei mille annorum circulo erminatur, sicut indicat Propheta, qui dicit, Ante oculos tuos, Domine, mille anni tan­uam dies unus, &c. S. Augustine, l. 20. De Civitate Dei. S. Hieronymus Comment. in Mich. cap. 4. Most clear and full to this pur­ [...]ose is Eustath. in his Comment. in Hexaë­ [...]eron [...], &c. We reckon (saith he) that the Creation shall [...]ontinue till the end of the sixth Chiliad, be­ [...]ause God also consummated the Ʋniverse in six days; and I suppose that the Deity [...]oth account days of a thousand years long; For that it is said, A thousand years are in [...]he sight of the Lord as one day. Howbeit [...]he most of them did not propose this Opi­nion as an undoubted Truth, but only as a Modest Conjecture. And S. Austine is very angry with them, who would peremptorily conclude from so slight an Argumentation.

[Page 26]This Conceit is already confuted, an [...] the World hath long outlasted this ter [...] according to their Computation who followed the Septuagint or Greek account, and rec [...] ned that Phaleg lived about the three tho [...] sandth year of the World, and had his Na [...] from his living in the division of Time, the [...] being to come after him three thousa [...] years, that is, just so many as were past b [...] fore him.

As concerning the future Condition of t [...] World after the Conflagration, I find it t [...] general and received Opinion of the Ancie [...] Christians, that this World shall not be a [...] nihilated or destroyed, but only renewe [...] and purified. So Eusebius, [...]. The World shall not be wholly [...] stroyed, but renewed. Divers passages I mig [...] produce out of him to the same purpose Cyril of Jerusalem Catech. 15. [...]. He folds up the Heaven not that he might destroy them, but th [...] he might rear them up again more beaut [...] ful. Again, Cyril upon this place, [...], &c. So that this Renovation i [...] respect of the Creation shall be such a kin [...] of thing as the Resurrection in reference t [...] [Page 27] Mans Body. Oecumenius upon this place, He saith, new Heavens and a new Earth, [...], yet not different in matter; And again, [...]. They shall not be destroyed or annihilated, but only renewed and purified. And upon Revel. 21.2. [...]. This he saith, not denoting the Non-existence of the Crea­tion, but the Renewing. In this manner he expounds Psalm 102.5, 6. and proceeding, saith, We may here take notice, that the A­postle doth not use the word [...], as if the Heaven and Earth were annihilated and brought to nothing, but [...], they passed away or removed, or changed State. Saint Hierome upon the Psalms, Psalm 102. saith, Ex quo ostenditur perditionem coelorum non interitum sonare, sed mutationem in melius. From which words [as a Vesture shalt thou change them] may be shewn and made out, that the Dissolution of the Heavens doth not signifie their utter destruction or annihilation, but only their change into a better State. I might add abundance more Testimonies, but these I think may suffice.

3. IT follows now than I give you an account, what the Ancient Philosopher and Sages among the Heathen thought an [...] delivered concerning this Point. Two o [...] the four principal Sects of Philosophers hel [...] a future Dissolution of the World, viz. Th [...] Epicureans and Stoicks.

As for the Epicureans, they held that a [...] the World was at first composed by th [...] fortuitous concourse of Atomes, so it should at last fall in pieces again by their fortuitou [...] Separation, as Lucretius hath it, lib. 5.

This Opinion of theirs is consonant enough to their wild Principles save only in that point of its suddenness, Ʋna dies dabit exi­tio, &c. one day shall destroy or make an end of it.

The Stoicks were also of Opinion that the World must be dissolved, as we may learn from the Seventh Book of Laertius in the Life of Zeno. [...], &c. They hold that the World is corruptible for these Reasons, 1. Because it was generated and had a beginning. 2. Because That is corruptible in the whole, whose parts are corruptible: But the parts of the World are corruptible, being daily transmuted one in­to another. 3. That which is capable of Mutation from better to worse is corrup­tible. But such is the World; sometimes being afflicted with long Heats and Droughts, [...]ometimes with continued Showers and In­ [...]ndations. To those we may add 4. ac­cording to some of their Opinions, Because the Sun and Stars being fed with Vapours exhaled from the Earth, all the moisture will at length be drawn out, and the World [...]ly on fire. They were afraid Minut. Felix. nè humore [Page 30] omni consumpto totus mundus ignesceret. This Dissolution of the World they held should be by Water and by Fire alternately at cer­tain periods, but especially by Fire, which they call [...]. Philo, [...] The Stoicks say that the cause of the destruction of the World is the irresistible force of Fire that is in things, which in lon [...] periods of time consumes and dissolves al [...] things into itself. Euseb. Praep. lib. 19 [...]. The mo [...] ancient of that Sect held, That at certain v [...] Periods of time all things were rarified int [...] Air, being resolved into an Ethereal Fire This [...] of the Stoicks we find mentioned by many, both Christian and He [...] then Writers, as besides the fore-quoted, M [...] nutius Felix, Justine Martyr, Clemens Alexandrinus in 5 Strom. Plutarch; Seneca an [...] others. The time of this Conflagration Seneca determins not, but saith only, it shal [...] be when God pleases. 3 Quaest. nat. cap [...] 20.8. Cùm Deo visum, vetera finire, ordi [...] meliora; When it shall seem good to God [...] put an end to old things, and to begin better [Page 31] Some there be who tell us of the Annus Platonicus or magnus, by which they un­derstand such a period of time, as in which all the heavenly Bodies shall be restored to the same Site and distance they were once in, in respect of one another: As supposing that all the Seven Planets were at the moment of Creation in the first degree of Aries, till they come all to be in the same degree again, all that space of time is called the Great Year, Annus magnus: In this Year they tell us that the height of Summer is the Confla­gration, and the depth of Winter the Inun­dation; and some Astrologers have been so vain as to assign the time both of the In­undation and Conflagration, Seneca 3. Quaest. Nat. cap. 20. Berosus, qui Belum interpreta­tus est, dicit, cursu ista syderum fieri, & adeò quidem affirmat, ut conflagrationi atque di­luvio tempus assignat. Arsura enim terrena contendit, quando omnia sydera in Cancro con­venerint: inundationem futuram, quando ea­dem syderum turba in Capricorno convenerit. Berosus, who interpreted Belus, saith, that those things come to pass according to the course of the Stars: and he so confidently af­firms it, that he assigns the time both for the Conflagration and Inundation. For that all Earthly Bodies will be burnt up, when all the Stars shall meet in Cancer; and the Inun­dation [Page 32] will fall out, when the same shall be in conjunction in Capricorn. Concerning the man­ner of this Conflagration, they held it should be sudden. Senec. Natura subitò ad ruinam, & toto impetu ruit; licet ad originem parcè uta­tur viribus, dispensétque se incrementis fal­lacibus. Momento fit cinis, diu sylva, &c. Nature doth suddenly and with all its force rush on to Ruin, though to the rise and for­mation of things it useth its strength sparing­ly, dispensing its influence and causing them to grow by insensible degrees; a Wood is long in growing up, but reduced to ashes almost in a moment. And some of them were so absurd as to think, that the Stars should justle and be dashed one against a­nother; Senec. lib. de consolatione ad Marci­am: Cùm tempus advenerit: quo se mundus revocaturus extinguat, viribus ista se suis cae­dent; & sydera syderibus incurrent; & omni flagrante materia, uno igne, quicquid nunc ex di­sposito lucet ardebit. Here by the way we may with Doctor More [Souls Immortality, lib. 3. cap. 18.] take notice how Coursly, not to say, Ridiculously, the Stoicks Philosophize,

As for the extent of this Conflagration, they Held that not only the Heavens should be burnt, but that the Gods themselves should not escape Scot-free. So Seneca, Re­soluto mundo, & Diis in unum consusis. And again, Atque omnes pariter Deos Perdet nox aliqua & Chaos. Is not this wise Philosophy? If their Morality were no better than their Physicks, their Wise man they boast of might [Page 34] be so denominated [...], as they of Gotham.

But let us look a little further, and we shall find that the Stoicks were not the first Authors of this Opinion of the Conflagra­tion; but that it was of far greater Antiquity than that Sect. Others of the more ancient Philosophers having entertained it, viz. Em­pedocles, as Clemens Alexandrinus testifies in his 5 Strom. [...]. 2. Heraclitus, as the same Clemens shews at large out of him in the same place. [...], amp;c. And Laertius in the Life of Heraclitus, He taught [...]. That there is but one World, and that it was generated out of Fire, and again burnt up or turned into Fire at certain periods alternately throughout all Ages. I might add to these the Ancient Greek Poets, Sophocles and Diphilus, as we find them quoted by Justine Martyr and Clemens A­lexandrinus. Neither yet were these the first Inventers and Broachers of this O­pinion, but they recieved it by Tradition from their Forefathers, and look'd upon it as an Oracle and Decree of Fate. Ovid speaks of it as such in the first of his Meta­morphosis;

And Lucan. Lib. 7.

Now through some are of an Opinion that by Fata here are to be understood the Sibylline [Page 36] Oracles, and to that purpose do alledge some Verses out of those extant under that Title, as Lactantius in his Book De ira Dei, cap. 23.

And in another place there is mention made of a River of Fire that shall descend from Heaven, and burn up both Earth and Sea.

[Page 37]Yet because the Verses now extant under the Name of Sibylline Oracles are all suspected to be false and pseudepigrapha; and many of them may be demonstrated to be of no greater An­tiquity than the Emperor Antoninus Pius his Reign: and because it cannot be proved, that there was any such thing in the Ancient genuine Sibylline Oracles; I rather think, (as I said before) that it was a Doctrine of Ancient Tradition, handed down from the first Fathers and Patriarchs of the World. Josephus in his Antiquities runs it up as high as Adam; from whom Seth his Son received it; his Father, saith he, fore telling him. [...]. That there should be a Destruction of the Uni­verse, once by the violence of Fire, and again by the force and abundance of Water; in consequence whereof he erected two Pil­lars, one of Brick, which might endure the Fire, and another of Stone, which would resist the Water; and upon them engraved his Astronomical Observations, that so they might remain to Posterity: And one of these Pillars he saith, continued in Syria until his days. Whether this Relation be true or not, it may thence be collected, that this was an Universal Opinion, received by Tradition, both among Jews and Gentiles, [Page 38] That the World should one day be consumed by Fire. It may be proved by good Autho­rity, that the Ancient Gaules, Chaldaeans and Indians had this Tradition among them which they could not receive from the Greek Philosophers or Poets, with whom they had no entercourse; but it must in al [...] probability be derived down to both from the same Fountain and Original; that is from the first Restorers of Mankind, Noa [...] and his Sons.

I now proceed to the Third Particular proposed in the beginning; that is, to give answer to the several Questions concerning the Dissolution of the World.

2. AS to the Second Question, Whether shall this Dissolution be brought a­bout and effected by natural or by extraor­dinary means and Instruments, and what those Means and Instruments shall be? I answer in brief, that the Instrumental Ef­ficient of this Dissolution shall be natural. For it is clear both by Scripture and Tradi­ [...]ion, and agreed on all Hands. that it shall be that Catholick Dissolvent, Fire. Now to the being and maintenance of Fire there are four things requisite. 1. The active Prin­ [...]iple or Aether. 2. Air, or a nitrous Pa­ [...]ulum received from it: These two being [...]ommixt together, are every where at hand. [...]. Fewel, which considering the abundance of combustible Materials, which are to be [...]ound in all places upon or under the Surface [Page 172] of the Earth, can no where be wanting. 4. The Accension and the sudden and equal Diffusion of this Fire all the World over. And this must be the Work of God, extraor­dinary and miraculous.

Such a Dissolution of the World might indeed be effected by that natural Accident mentioned in the Answer to the precedent Question, viz. The Eruption of the Central Fire. But because it is doubtful, whether there be any such Fire in the middle of the Earth or no: and if there ever were, it is hard to give an account, how it could be maintained in that infernal Dungeon for want of Air and Fewel. And because, if it should break forth in the Consistency of a thin Flame, it would in all likelyhood speedily like Lightening mount up to Heaven, and quite vanish away; unless we could suppose Floods, nay Seas of melted Materials, or liquid Fire, enough to overflow the whole Earth, to be poured forth of those Caverns. For these Reasons I reject that Opinion, and do rather think that the Conflagration shall be effected by a Superficial Fire. Tho I must confess we read in Tacitus, Annal. 13. at the end, of a sort of Fire that was not so apt to disperse and vanish. ‘— The City of the Inhonians in Germany (saith he) confe­derate with us was afflicted with a sudden [Page 173] Disaster: for Fires issueing out of the Earth, burned Towns, Fields, Villages every where, and spread even to the Walls of a Colony newly built, and could not be extinguished neither by Rain, nor River-Water, nor any other Liquor that could be employed, until for want of Remedy, or anger of such a Distraction, certain Pesants cast Stones afar off into it; then the Flame somewhat slacking, drawing near, they put it out with Blows of Clubs, and other like, as if it had been a wild Beast; last of all, they threw in Cloaths from their Backs, which the more worn and fouler they were, the better they quenched the Fire.’ I use Dr. Hakewil's Translation.

3. THE Third Question is, Whether shall this Dissolution be gradual and successive, or momentaneous and sudden?

I answer, The Scripture resolves for the latter, The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night: a Similitude we have often repeated in Scripture, as in the tenth Verse of this Chapter, in 1 Thessal. 15.2. Revel. 3, 3. and 16.15. And the Resur­rection and Change of Things, it is said shall be in a moment, in the twinkling of a [...] eye: 1 Cor. 15.52. Consonant whereto both the Epicureans and Stoicks held thei [...] Dissolutions of the World should be sudde [...] and brief, as Lucretius and Seneca in th [...] places forementioned tell us. And it i [...] suitable to the nature of Fire to make a quic [...] dispatch of things, suddenly to consume an [...] destroy.

[Page 175]And as it shall be sudden, so also shall it be unexpected, being compared to the com­ing of the Flood in the days of Noah, Matth. 24.37, 38, 39. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entred into the ark: And knew not until the flood came and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. And the raining of Fire and Brimstone upon Sodom, Luke 17. Thessal. 5.3. For when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them as travail upon a woman with child. Now if it shall be thus sudden and unexpected, it is not likely there should be in nature any manifest Tendency to it, or remarkable Signs and Forerunners of it: for such must needs startle and awaken the World into an expectation and dread of it. That there is at present no such Tendency to Corruption, but that the World conti­nues still in as good state and condition as it was two thousand years ago, without the least impairment or decay, hath been, as we before noted, without any possibility of contradiction clearly made out and de­monstrated by Dr. Hakewill in his Apolo­gy: and therefore, arguing from the past [Page 176] to the future, it will in all likelyhood so continue two thousand years more, if it be so long to the Day of Doom; and conse­quently that day (as the Scripture predicts) will suddenly and unexpectedly come upon the World. But if all these Prophecies (as Dr. Hammond affirms) be to be restrained only to the Destruction of Jerusalem, and Jewish Polity, without any further re­spect to the end of the World; then indeed from thence we can make no Inferences or Deductions in reference to that final Period.

4. THE Fourth Question is, Whether shall there be any Signs or Fore­runners of the Dissolution of the World?

In order to the Answering of this Que­stion we shall distinguish Signs into natural and arbitrarious, 1. natural Signs, so the Au­rora, or Dawning of the Day, is a Sign of the Sun-rising. Now if the Dissolution be effected in the course of Nature, and by na­tural Means, there will be some previous natural Signs of it. An old House will threaten Ruin before it falls. The natural Death of Men and all Animals hath its Har­bingers, and old Men before their Dissolu­tion feel the Impression of Age; and pro­claim to the World their approaching Fate by Wrinkles, Gray Hairs, and Dimness of Sight. But we have formerly shewn, that there is no Consenescency or Declension in [Page 178] Nature: but that the World continues still as firm and staunch as it was three thousand years ago; and why hereafter it should founder and decay more than it hath done for so many Ages heretofore, what reason can be given? It is not therefore likely there should be any natural Signs of the Dissolution of the World; and consequently that it shall be effected by natural Means.

2. There are arbitrary Signs, as a Garland hung out is a Sign of Wine to be sold. Now if the Dissolution of the World be effected by supernatural and extraordinary means. (as is most likely) the Signs of it must be arbi­trarious. For tho they may be natural Ef­fects and Productions, yet would they not signifie the Destruction of the World, if they were not ordered by providence to happen at that time, and predicted as Forerunners of it; with which otherwise they have no na­tural Connexion. Such Signs are Matth. 24. The Sun being darkened, and the Moon not giving her Light, and the Stars falling from Heaven, and the Shaking of the Powers of Heaven. These and many other Signs of his coming we find mentioned in Scripture: but what the meaning of these Expressions may be, is not so clear: For tho some of them may be taken in a Literal Sense, yet it is manifest that others cannot. The Sun may [Page 179] indeed be so covered with a Macula, as to be quite obscured; and thereupon the Moon ne­cessarily lose her Light, which she borrows only from the Sun-beams: But how the Stars should in a literal Sense fall down from Hea­ven is inconceivable; it being almost demon­stratively certain, that most of them are bigger than the whole Earth. We may therefore, keeping as near as we can to the Letter, thus interpret them. There shall be great Signs in Heaven, dismal Eclipses and Obscurations of the Sun and Moon; new Stars and Comets shall appear, and others disappear, and many fiery Meteors be su­spended in the Air. The very Foundations of the Earth shall be shaken, and the Sea shall roar and make a noise. But I must not here dissemble a great Difficulty: How can such illustrious Signs and Forerunners be re­conciled to the suddenness and unexpected­ness of Christ's coming, and the end of the World? Luke 21.25. After the Evangelist had told us, That there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon; and in the stars — the sea and the waves roaring, he adds, as a Con­sequent thereof, Vers. 26. Mens hearts fail­ing them for fear, and for looking after those things that are coming on the earth. And indeed how could any Man possibly be buried in so profound a Lethargy of Senselessness [Page 180] and Security, as by such stupendious Pro­digies not to be rowsed and awakened to an expectation of some dismal and tremen­dous Event? How could he sing a Requiem to his Soul, and say Peace and Safety, when the World so manifestly threatens Ruin a­bout his Ears? For the reconciling of these Expressions to this sudden coming of our Saviour to Judgment, it were most conve­nient to accept them in the Figurative and Metaphorical Sense. For if we understand them of the Ruins and Devastations of Ci­ties and Countries, the Changes of Govern­ments, the Subversions of Kingdoms and Commonwealths, the Falls and Deposings of Princes, Nobles and Great Men; these happening more or less in every Age, tho the serious and inquisitive Christian, who searches and understands the Scriptures, may discern them to be the Signs of the World's Catastrophe; yet the careless and inconside­rate, the vicious and voluptuous are not like to be at all startled or moved at them, but may notwithstanding, looking upon them as ordinary and insignificant Accidents, Dormire in utramque aurem, sleep securely till the last Trump awaken them. Or it may be an­swered, that these Prophecies do belong to the Destruction of Jerusalem only, and so we are not concerned to answer this Objection.

5. THE Fifth Question is, At what Period of Time shall the World be dissolved? I answer, This is absolutely uncertain and indeterminable. For since this Dissolution shall be effected by the ex­traordinary Interposition of Providence; it cannot be to any man known, unless extra­ordinarily revealed. And our Saviour tells us, that of that Day and Hour knows no man, no not the Angels of Heaven, &c. Matth. 24.36. And again, Acts 1.17. It is not for us to know the times and the sea­sons, which the Father hath placed in his own power. And this Dr. Hakewyll brings as an Argument, that the World decays not, neither tends to corruption; because if it did, the time of its actual Dissolution might be collected and foretold; which, saith he, the Scripure denies. We may in­vert this Argumentation, and infer; Because [Page 182] the World doth not decay, therefore the time of its Dissolution cannot be known.

But yet notwithstanding this, many have ventured to fore-tell the time of the end of the World, of whom some are already con­futed, the term prefixt being past, and the World still standing. Lactantius in his time said, Institut. lib. 7. c. 15. Omnis expectatio non amplius quàm ducentorum videtur annorum, The longest expectation extends not further than two hundred years. The continuance of the World more than a thousand years since con­vinces him of a gross Mistake. Paulus Greb­nerus a high Pretender to a Spirit of Pro­phesie, sets it in the year 1613. induced thereto by a fond conceit of the Numeral Letters in the Latin Word Judicium. Other Enthusiastical persons of our own Countrey have placed it in the years 1646. and 1656. The event shews how ungroundedly and er­roneously. Others there are, whose term is not yet expired, and so they remain still to be confuted. Du Mou­lin. As those who conceit that the end of the World shall be when the Pole-Star shall come to touch the Pole of the Equator, which (say they) ever since the time of Hipparchus hath approached nearer and nearer to it. That it doth so I am not satisfied; but if it doth, it is merely acci­dental, and hath no connexion with the end [Page 183] of the World. But the most famous Opi­nion, and which hath found most Patrons and Followers even amongst the Learned and Pious, is that of the Worlds duration for six thousand years. For the strengthe­ning of which Conceit they tell us, that as the World was created in six days, and then followed the Sabbath, so shall it remain six thousand years, and then shall succeed the Eternal Sabbath. Heb. 4.9. [...], &c. There remains therefore a rest or Sabbath to the people of God. Here we see that the Apostle institutes a compa­rison between the heavenly rest and the Sabbath. Therefore as God rested upon the seventh day, so shall all the World of the Godly rest after the six thousandth year. For he that hath entred into his rest ceaseth from all his works as God did from his. Of this Opinion were many of the Ancient Fathers, as I shewed before, grounding themselves up­on this Analogy between the six days of the Creation and the Sabbath; and the six thou­sand years of the Worlds duration, and the eternal rest; For saith Irenaeus lib. 5. cap. ult. Hoc autem (that is, the History of the six days Creation and succeeding Sabbath) est & praeteritorum narratio, & futurorum pro­phetia. Dies enim unus mille annos significat, sicut Scriptura testatur: 2 Pet. 3.8. Psal. 90.4. [Page 184] the Scriptures reckoning days of one thou­sand years long, as in verse 8. of this Chap­ter, and in Psal. 90.4. This is likewise a re­ceived Tradition of the Jewish Rabbins, re­gistred in the Talmud, in the Treatise Sanhe­drim, delivered (as they pretend) by the Prophet Elias the Tishbite to the Son of the Woman of Sarepta, whom he raised from the dead, and by him handed down to Posterity. I rather think with Reuterus, that the Author of it was some Rabbi of that name. The Tradition is, Sex millia annorum erit mundus: & uno millenaria va­statio i. e. Sabbathum Dei: Duo millia inane: Duo millia Lex: Duo millia dies Messiae. Two thousand years vacuity: Two thousand years of the Law: Two thousand years the days of the Messiah. But they shoot far wide: For according to the least account, there passed a far greater number of years before the Law was given, 2513. saith Reuterus, and on the contrary less time from the Law▪ to the Exhibition of the Messiah. All these Proofs laid together do scarce suffice to make up a probability. Neither do those Rabbinical Collections from the six Letters in [...] the first word of Genesis, or from the six Alephs in the first Verse of that Book, each signifying a thousand years; or from the six first Patriarchs in the order of the Genea­logy [Page 185] to Enoch, who was caught up to Hea­ven and found no more, add much weight to this Opinion. S. Austin very modestly con­cludes after a discussion of this Point con­cerning the time of the Worlds duration, Ego tempora dinumerare non audeo: nec ali­quem prophetam de hac re numerum annorum existimo praefinivisse. Nos ergo quod scire nos Dominus noluit libentèr nesciamus.

But though none but presumptuous per­sons have undertaken peremptorily to de­termine that time, yet was it the common and received Opinion and Perswasion of the Ancient Christians, that that day was not far off: and had they been to limit it, they would hardly have been induced to set the term so forward, and remote from their own Age, as by experience we find it proves to to be in their own times, or shortly after; and many places of Scripture seem to favour that Opinion, so that some have presumed to say, that the Apostles themselves were at first mistaken in this particular, till after fur­ther illumination they were better informed. But though this be too bold a Conceit, yet that the Churches, at least some of them, did at first mistake the Apostles meaning in their Sermons and Epistles concerning this Point, and so understand them, as to think that the end of the World and final Judg­ment [Page 186] was at hand, appears from 2 Thess. 2.2. I beseech you, Brethren, that ye be not soo [...] shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by Spi­rit, nor by word, nor by letter, as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Wee see the Apostle labours to rectifie, and for the fu­ture to prevent this Mistake: so likewise the Apostle Peter in the 8th and 9th Verses of this Chapter. And yet this Opinion had taken such deep root in them, that it wa [...] not easie to be extirpated, but continued for some Ages in the Church. Indeed there are so many places in the New Testament which speak of the coming of Christ as very near that if we should have lived in their time and understood them all as they did, of hi [...] coming to judge the World, we could hard­ly have avoided being of the same Opinion. But if we apply them (as Dr. Hammo [...] doth) to his coming to take vengeance on hi [...] enemies, then they do not hinder, but tha [...] the Day of Judgment, I mean the genera [...] Judgment, may be far enough off. So [...] leave this Question unresolved, concluding that when that day will come God only knows.

6. A Sixth Question is, How far shall this Conflagration extend? Whe­ther to the Ethereal Heavens, and all the Host of them, Sun, Moon and Stars, or to the Aereal only?

I answer, If we follow Ancient Tradition not only the Earth, but also the Heavens and heavenly Bodies will be involved in one common fate, as appears by those Verses quo­ted out of Lucretius, Ovid, Lucan, &c.

Of Christians some exempt the Ethereal Region from this Destruction: for the two following Reasons, which I shall set down in Reuterus's words. 1. Because in this Chap­ter the Conflagration is compared to the De­luge in the time of Noah. But the Deluge extended not to the upper Regions of the Air, much less to the Heavens, the Waters arising only fifteen Cubits above the tops of the Mountains, if so much. Therefore nei­ther shall the Conflagration transcend that [Page 188] term. So Beza upon 2 Pet. 3.6. Tantum ascendet ille ignis quantum aqua altior supra omnes montes. That fire shall ascend as high as the Waters stood above the Mountains. This passage I do not find in the last Edition of his Notes. The ordinary Gloss also upon these words, 2 Thess. 1.2. In flaming fire rendring vengeance, saith, Christum venturum praecedet ignis in mundo, qui tantum ascendet quantum aqua in diluvio. There shall a fire go before Christ when he comes, which shall reach as high as did the Water in the Deluge. And S. Augustine De Civit. Dei lib. 20. cap. 18. Petrus etiam commemorans factum ante dilu­vium, videtur admonuisse quodammodo, qua­tenus in fine hujus seculi istum mundum peri­turum esse credamus. Peter also mentioning the Ancient Deluge, seems in a manner to have advised us how far at the consummation of time, we are to believe this World shall perish.

But this Argument is of no force, because it is not the Apostles design in that place to describe the limits of the Conflagration, but only against Scoffers, to shew, that the World should one day perish by Fire, as it had of old been destroyed by Water.

2. The second reason is, because the Hea­venly Bodies are not subject to passion, al­teration or corruption. They can con­tract [Page 189] no filth, and so need no expurgation by Fire.

To this we answer, not in the words of Reuter, but our own, That it is an idle and ill grounded conceit of the Peripateticks, That the Heavens are of their own nature in­corruptible and unalterable: for on the con­trary it is demonstrable, that many of them are of the same nature with the Earth we live upon, and the most pure, as the Sun, and probably too the Fixt Stars, suffer Alte­rations; maculae or opaque Concretions being commonly generated and dissolved in them. And Comets frequently, and sometimes New Stars appear in the Etherial Regions. So that these Arguments are insufficient to ex­empt the Heavens from Dissolution; and on the other side many places there are in Scri­pture which seem to subject them thereto: As Psal. 102.25, 26. recited Heb. 1.10. which hath already often been quoted, The heavens are the works of thy hands, They shall perish. Mat. 24.35. Heaven and Earth shall pass away. Isa. 65.17. & 51.6. The Hea­vens shall vanish away like smoke. Yet am I not of opinion, that the last Fire shall reach the Heavens; They are too far distant from us to suffer by it: nor indeed doth the Scri­pture affirm it: but where it mentions the Dissolution of the Heavens, it expresses it by [Page 190] such Phrases as seem rather to intimate, that it shall come to pass by a consenescency and decay, than be effected by any sudden and violent means. Psal. 102.25, 26. They all shall wax old as doth a garment, &c. Though I confess nothing of Certainty can be gathe­red from such expressions; for we find the same used concerning the Earth. Isa. 51.6. The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the Earth shall wax old as doth a garment. The heavenly Bodies are none of them un­corruptible and eternal; but may in like man­ner as the Earth be consumed and destroyed, at what times and by what means, whether Fire or some other Element, the Amighty hath decreed, and ordered.

THere remains now only the Seventh Question to be resolved, Whether shall the World be wholly consumed, burnt up and destroyed, or annihilated; or only re­fined, purified or renewed? To this I an­swer, That the latter part seems to me more probable, viz. That it shall not be destroyed and annihilated, but only refined and puri­fied. I know what potent Adversaries I have in this case. I need name no more than Gerard in his Common Places, and Dr. Hake­wil in his Apology and the Defence of it, who contend earnestly for the Abolition or Annihilation. But yet upon the whole matter, the Renovation or Restitution seems to me most probable, as being most conso­nant to Scripture, Reason and Antiquity. The Scripture speaks of an [...] or Resti­tution, Acts 3.21. Whom the Heavens must [Page 192] contain until the time of the restitution of all things. Speaking of our Saviour: and [...] or Regeneration of the World, the very Word the Stoicks and Pythagoreans use in this case, Matth. 19.28, 29. Verily, I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall sit on the Throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve Thrones, &c. Psal. 102.26. As a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. Which words are again taken up and repeated, Heb. 1.12. Now it is one thing to be changed, another to be annihilated and destroyed. 1 Cor. 7.31. [...]. The fashion of this World passeth away. As if he had said, It shall be transfigured, or its outward form changed, not its matter or substance destroyed. Isa. 65.17. Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth, and the former shall not be remembred, nor come into mind. Isa. 66.22. As the new Heavens and new Earth, which I shall make, shall remain be­fore me. To which places the Apostle Peter seems to refer in those words, 2 Pet. 3.13. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new Heavens, and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. This new Heaven and new Earth we have also mentioned, Rev. 21.1. And I saw a new Heaven and a ne [...] [Page 193] Earth: for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away, and there was no more Sea. These places, I confess, may admit of an Answer or Solution by those who are of a contrary Opinion, and are answered by Doctor Hakewil: yet all together, especially being back'd by ancient Tradition, amount to a high degree of probability. I omit that place, Rom. 8.21, 22. The creature it self also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God: tho it be accounted the strongest proof of our Opinion, because of the obscu­rity and ambiguity thereof.

2. For Antiquity, I have already given many Testimonies of the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and could, if need were, produce many more, the whole stream of them running this way. And tho Dr. Hakewill saith, that if we look back to higher times before S. Hierome, we shall not easily find any one who maintained the World's Renovation: yet hath he but two Testimonies to alledge for its Abolition; the one out of Hilary upon the Psalms, and the other out of Clemens his Recognitions. To this Restitution of the World after the Con­flagration many also of the Heathen Phi­losophers bear witness; whose Testimonies Mr. Burnet hath exhibited in his Theory of [Page 194] the Earth, lib. 4. cap. 5. Of the Stoicks, Chrysippus de Providentia, Apud Lactant. l. 7. c. 23. speaking of the Renovation of the World, saith, [...]. We after death, certain Periods of time be­ing come about, shall be restored to the form we now have. To Chrysippus Stobaeus adds Zeno and Cleanthes, and comprehends toge­ther with Men all natural things, [...]. Zeno and Clean­thes and Chrysippus were of opinion, That the Nature or Substance of things changes in­to Fire, as it were into a Seed; and out of this again, such a World or Frame of Things is effected as was before. This Revolution of na­ture Antoninus in his Meditations often calls [...], The Peri­odical Regeneration of all things. And Lib. 5. Origen against Celsus saith of the Stoicks in general, [...]. The Stoicks say, That at certain Periods of time there is a Conflagration of the Ʋniverse; and after that a Restitution thereof having exactly the same [Page 195] Disposition and Furniture the former World had. More to the like purpose concerning the Stoicks, we have in Praep. Evang. l. 15. Eusebius out of Numenius. Nature, saith he, returns [...] to the Resurrection which makes the Great Year, wherein there is again a restitution made from it self alone to it self. For returning according to the order wherein it began first to frame and dispose things, (as reason would) it again observes the same Oeconomy or Administration; the like Periods returning eternally without ceasing. He that desires more Authorities of the Heathen Philosophers and Poets in confir­mation of the World's Restitution after the Conflagration, may consult the same Mr. Burnet in the place forequoted; where he also shews, that this Doctrine of the Mun­dane Periods was received by the Grecians from the Nations they call barbarous. Py­thagoras, saith Porphyry, brought it first in­to Grece: and Origen witnesseth of the E­gyptians Wise Men that it was delivered by them. Laertius out of Theopompus relates, [Page 196] That the Persian Magi had the same Tra­dition: and Berosus saith that the Chaldeans also. In fine, among all the Barbarous Na­tions, who had among them any Person or Sect, and Order of Men, noted for Wis­dom or Philosophy this Tradition was cur­rent. The Reader may consult the Book we refer to, where is a notable Passage taken out of Plutarch's Tractate, De Iside & Osiride, concerning a War between Oromazes and Arimanius, somewhat parallel to that men­tioned in the Revelation between Michael and the Drag [...]n.

3. The Restitution of the World seems more consonant to Reason than its Aboli­tion. For if the World were to be annihi­lated, what needed a Conflagration? Fire doth not destroy or bring things to nothing, but only separate their parts. The World cannot be abolished by it, and therefore had better been annihilated without it. Where­fore the Scripture mentioning no other Dis­solution than is to be effected by the Instru­mentality of Fire, its clear, we are not to understand any utter Abolition or Annihila­tion of the World, but only a Mutation and Renovation, by those Phrases of perishing, passing away, dissolving, being no more, &c. They are to be no more in that state and condition they are now in.

[Page 197]2. There must be a material Heaven, and a material Hell left. A place for the glori­fied Bodies of the Blessed to inhabit and converse in; and a place for the Bodies of the Damned, a [...] or Prison for them to be shut up in. Now if the place of the Blessed be an Empyreal Heaven far above these visible Heavens, as Divines generally hold; and the place of the Damned be be­neath, about the middle of the Earth; as is the Opinion of the Schoolmen, and the Church of Rome, and as the name Inferi im­ports, and as the ancient Heathen described their Tartarus,

Then when all the intermediate Bodies shall be annihilated, what a strange Universe shall we have? Consisting of an immense Ring of Matter, having in the middle, a vast vacuity, or space void of all Body, save only one small point for an infernal Dungeon. Those that are of this Opinion have too narrow and mean thoughts of the Greatness, I had almost said Immensity of the Universe, the [Page 198] glorious and magnifick Products of the Creator's Almighty Power: and are too par­tial to themselves, to think the whole World was created for no other end but to be service­able to Mankind: but of this I have said some­what in a former Discourse, and therefore shall not at present enlarge upon it.

But let us hear what they have to say for the Abolition.

Hakewil's Apol. l. 4. c. 13. sect. 5.Their first and most weighty Argument is taken from the End of the World's Creation, which was partly and chiefly the Glory of the Creator, and partly the use of Man, the Lord Deputy, as it were, or Viceroy thereof. Now for the Glory of the Creator, it being by the admirable Frame of the World manifest­ed unto Man, Man being removed out of the World, and no Creature being capable of such a Manifestation besides him, we cannot imagine to what purpose the Frame it self should be left, and restored to a more per­fect Estate. The other End, being for Man's Ʋse, either to supply his Necessity in matter of Diet, of Physick, of Building, of Ap­parrel; or for his Instruction, Direction, Re­creation, Comfort and Delight; or lastly, that therein, as in a Looking-Glass he might contemplate the Wisdom, the Goodness and Power of God: when he shall attain that Blessed Estate, as he shall have no further [Page 199] use of any of these, enjoying perfect Hap­piness and seeing God as he is, face to face, the second or subordinate End of the World's Being must needs be likewise frustrate. And what other End can be given or conceived for the remaining or restoring thereof? &c.

To this I answer, there may be an end of the restoring of the VVorld, tho we are not able to find out or determine what. VVe are too short sighted to penetrate the Ends of God. There may be a new Race of ratio­nal Animals brought forth to act their parts upon this Stage, which may give the Crea­tor as much Glory as Man ever did or could. And yet if there should be no Material [...]nd visible rational Creature made to inha­bit the Earth, there are spiritual and intel­ [...]ectual Beings, which may be as busie, and [...]s much delighted in searching out and con­ [...]emplating the VVorks of God in this new Earth, and rendring him the Praise of his VVisdom and Power as Man could be. These things we may conjecture; but we must [...]eave it to the only wise God to determine what use shall be made of it. It seems to me [...]o be too great presumption, and over-valuing our selves to think that all this VVorld was [...]o made for us, as to have no other end of its Creation; or that God could not be glorified [...]ut by us.

[Page 200]This first and principal Argument being answered, the second admits of an easie So­lution. They enquire whether the Vege­tables and Creatures endued with Sense shall all be restored, or some only? namely such as shall be found in being at the Day of Judgment. If all, where shall we find Stowage for them? Surely we may in this case properly apply that which the Evangelist in another useth figuratively, if they should all be restored, even the VVorld it self could not contain the things which should be re­stored. If some only, then would I gladly know, why those some should be vouchsafed this great Honour, and not all, or how those Creatures without a Miracle shall be re­strain'd from propagating and multiplying, and that infinitely in their kinds by a perpe­tual Generation. Or lastly, How the seve­ral Individuals of these kinds, shall contrary to their primitive natures, live and dure Immortality?

To all this I answer, That not only all Animals, but all Vegetables too, yea and their Seeds also, will doubtless be morti­fied and destroyed by the violence of the Conflagration; but that the same should be restored, and endued with eternal life, I know no reason we have to believe; but ra­ther that there shall be new ones produced▪ [Page 201] either of the same with the former, or of different kinds, at the will, and by the power of the Almighty Creator, and for those Ends and Uses for which he shall design them. This Question being answered in this man­ner, all that follows concerning the Earth remaining without any Furniture or Inha­bitants, &c. falls to the Ground. So I have dispatch'd these seven Questions concerning the Dissolution of the World, there remains now only the Inference or Use of the pre­cedent Doctrine.

I Come now to the Inference the Apostle makes from the precedent Doctrine▪ What manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness? One word here needs a little explication, and that is holy; What is meant by a holy conversation.

Holiness is an Equivocal Term. It is at­tributed either to God, or to the Creature. When it is attributed to God, it signifies either,

1. The unspotted Purity of his Nature, and the constant and immutable rectitude of his Will. So it is taken 1 John 3.3. A [...] every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure: and 1 Pet. 1.15. As he which called you is holy, so be ye holy i [...] all manner of conversation: Because it is writ­ten, be ye holy for I am holy. Psal. 145.17▪ The Lord is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works.

[Page 202]2. His Sovereign Majesty and Greatness, appearing in his transcendent Wisdom and Power, in his Supreme and Absolute Domi­nion over all things: in respect whereof, he is called the Holy One of Israel, and his Name is said to be Holy: that is, to be invoked with the greatest reverence. Holy and reve­rend is his name. Because of this his Great­ness and Excellency he is to be worshipped and adored with the most submissive humi­lity and veneration, with a transcendent and incommunicable Worship and Devotion.

When Holiness is attributed to Creatures, it signifies either an Inherent and Inward or a Relative or Outward, Holiness.

1. Inherent or Inward Holiness is a Con­formity of Heart and Life to the Will of God: or as Bishop Wilkin's Ʋnivers. Charact. others define it, An habitual frame of mind, whereby we are fitted for vertuous Actions, but more especi­ally for the Duties of Religion: Indeed Ho­liness doth always include a reference to God.

2. Relative or Outward Holiness results from a Separation and setting a part any thing from a prophane and common, and applying it to a Sacred or Religious use. For the Majesty of God, who at first created, and continually sustains and governs all things, being so great and inviolable, all persons, [Page 204] things, and times, and places, and Ceremo­nies separated and appropriated to his Ser­vice and Worship, are by all Nations esteem­ed Sacred, and to have a Character of Holi­ness imprinted on them.

By Holiness in this place, is to be under­stood an inherent Holiness, which is well de­fined by Dr. Outram, De Sacrif. l. 1. c. 1. A Conformity of heart and life to the Will of God. I shall not dis­course at large concerning a holy Conversa­tion, nor instance particulars wherein it con­sists. That would be to write a Body of Practical Divinity: I shall therefore at pre­sent suppose the Reader sufficiently instru­cted in that. My business shall be to shew the strength of the Apostles Inference.

It may be said, How doth this Dissolu­tion concern us, who may perchance be dead and rotten a thousand years before i [...] comes? What have we to do with it?

I answer, It concerns us, 1. Because it possible it may happen in our times; it ma [...] surprise us before we are aware. The precise time thereof is uncertain. And it sha [...] be sudden and unexpected, coming as Thief in the night, as we have befo [...] shewn; therefore we ought always to [...] upon our guard, to have our loins girt ab [...] and our lights burning. This use the Sc [...] pture in many places makes of the unc [...] tainty [Page 205] of the time of Christs coming. Luke 12.40. Be ye therefore ready: for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not. Luke 21.34, 35. And take heed to your selves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the whole Earth. Parallel whereto are Matth. 24.42. and Mark 13.33, 35. That it shall come is certain, when it shall come is uncertain, and it every day draws nearer and nearer, therefore it is not wisdom to remove the evil day far from us: and as in reference to the day of death, it is an usual and prudent advice, so to live every day, as if it were our last day; or at least, as we would not be afraid to do should it be so: because we are sure, that one day will be our last, and for ought we know the present may be it: so likewise is it rational counsel in respect of the End of the World, so to prepare our selves for it by a holy conversation, that we may get above the terror and dread which will otherwise at­tend the apprehension of the approach of [...]t: and that we may be provided against the worst that may follow; and be secure come what can come.

[Page 206]Secondly, It concerns us, should it be a thousand years to come, Because then is the general Resurrection both of the just and un­just, Acts 24.15. and the general Judgment, When we must all appear before the dreadful tribunal of Christ, that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. 2 Cor. 5.10. which, Rom. 2.5. is called the revelation of the righteous judgment of God Who will render to every man according to his deeds, &c. Upon this account, I say, it concerns us much how we have our conver­sation here.

I.First, As we hope to be acquitted at that day, and to enter into those new Heavens, in which dwells righteousness. Holiness is a necessary condition and antecedent to happiness. Necessary I say,

1. By Gods appointment, Heb. 12.14. Follow peace with all men, and holiness, with out which no man shall see the Lord. Rom. 6.22. Have your fruit unto holiness, and the end eternal life. Psal. 50. ult. To him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I shew the salvation of God. Eternal life is the gif [...] of God. He is not obliged to bestow i [...] upon any man. He may make what conditions he pleases for the obtaining of it. N [...] [Page 207] man hath any right to it; No man can lay any claim to it, but from this donation, and from the performance of these conditions. Rev. 22.14. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the City. For without are dogs and whoremongers and sorcerers, &c. All the right they have depends upon Gods pro­mise, which is conditionate, and accrues to them by the performance of the condition, which is the doing of his Command­ments.

2. Necessary not only by Gods appoint­ment, but in the very nature of the thing. Holiness is the very quality and complexion of Heaven. No man without it is qualified to be a subject of that Kingdom: For there­into nothing that is impure or unclean can enter. Revel. 21.27. And there shall in no wise enter into it [the new Jerusalem] any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever work­eth abomination. In this new Heaven dwel­leth righteousness, 2 Pet. 3.15. Therefore 1 John 3.3. Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself as he is pure. Hea­ven would naturally spue out and eject a wicked person, as one heterogeneous to it. Heaven and Hell are not more distant in place, than they are in nature. There is [Page 208] not more antipathy between fire and water, between light and darkness, between streight and crooked, neither are they more incom­patible, or do more naturally resist and ex­pel one another, than holiness which is the quality of Heaven, and wickedness which is the disposition and temper of Hell. Some do think Heaven to be rather a state, than a place; and that he that is partaker of the Di­vine Nature hath Heaven within him: This is true, but this is not all. The whole notion of Heaven comprehends both a state and a place. A man must be in a heavenly state, before the local Heaven can receive him, or he brook it. Heaven without him would be no Heaven to the man who hath not Hea­ven within him. A wicked person could find no business or employment in Heaven; nothing to satisfie his corrupt and depraved affections, inclinations, and appetites. He would there meet with no suitable company; no persons whose conversation he could take any delight and complacency in, but rather hate and abhor. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? or what communion hath light with darkness? 2 Cor. 6.14. Like naturally loves like, and unites with it, and doth refuse, resist, and hate that which is unlike it. For every thing is made to love it self; and consequently every [Page 209] thing that resembles and comes near it, and is as it were a replication of it; and to hate the contrary. As therefore we would be glad to be Partakers of the blessedness of the local Heaven, so let us endeavour to get into our Minds and Spirits the qualities and conditions of Heaven; that so we may be fit Subjects for that Kingdom, fit companions for that Society. This is the time allotted us to purifie our selves from all filthiness both of flesh and spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God. There is no invention in the grave whither we are going, Eccles. 9.10. Ʋpon this moment depends eternity. As the tree falls so it lies; and as Death leaves, so will Judgment find us. Quando isthinc ex­cessum fuerit, nullus jam locus poenitentiae est. Hîc vita aut amittitur, aut tenetur: Hîc sa­luti aeternae cultu Dei & fructu fidei provi­detur. Cyprian. Serm. de Immortal. After we shall depart hence there remains no more place for repentance. Eternal life is here, either lost or won. Here provision is made for everlasting salvation by the worship of God, and fruit of faith. We must work while it is day, the night [of death] cometh wherein no man can work. John 9.4. And therefore the time our bodies shall rest in the grave, should it be a thousand years, will little avail us: for if the soul be mean while awake, [Page 210] the certain and dreadful expectation of the Sentence of Condemnation to an eternal Hell at the Day of Judgment, will be little less afflictive than the Torments thereof themselves. I might add by way of Di­gression that Sin and Wickedness is natu­rally productive of. Hell in the Soul. A wicked Man carries Hell in his Breast. Sin necessarily infers Misery: It is contrary to the nature of the Soul, and whatsoever is so must needs be grievous. Diversion and Non-Attention to his Condition is the wick­ed Man's only Security: I have heard it often from a Doctor Witchcot. great Divine in his Sermons, That there is but a Thoughts Distance between a wicked Man and Hell. For do but fix and bind his Thoughts to the Consideration of his Life and Actions, and he will antici­cipate Hell himself, he shall need no infer­nal Furies to lash him, he will be his own Tormentor: such a Man's Pressures will be heavy enough, should the Divine Nemesis superadd no more. The Reason of this I have given in a former Discourse, and therefore shall now omit what else might have been added on this particular.

II.Secondly, It much concerns us, upon ac­count of the future Judgment which shall be at the Dissolution of the World, to have our [Page 211] Conversation in all Holiness, as we desire to avoid that Shame and Misery which will then otherwise certainly befall us.

1. As we desire to avoid that shame which will cover our Faces at that day. If here Shame and Disgrace be more grievous and insupportable than Death it self, what will it be then, when the Soul shall be ren­dred more quick and apprehensive and sen­sible of such Impressions? There is nothing shameful but sin, nothing else hath any na­tural Turpitude in it. Shame follows Sin as the Shadow doth the Body: He that will commit the one cannot avoid the other. Therefore such wicked persons as have not quite re­nounced Modesty, and lost all Sense of Shame, especially if guilty of secret Crimes, the Consideration of a future. Judgment would be a powerful Curb to restrain them from Sin for the future: because then God will produce and bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and disclose and make ma­nifest the counsels of all hearts: 1 Cor. 4.5. Then he will judge the secrets of men by Je­sus Christ. Rom. 2.16. Then will he bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, Eccles. 12.14. For would they but consider and ponder what Confusion will overwhelm them when this shall be done in the face of the whole World, and before all [Page 212] that knew them, and they not able to make any denyal, or excuse. This, I say, if any thing, would be a powerful Curb to with­hold them from those Enormities to which this shame is appendant. It may be thou madest a great Figure in the World for Piety and Religion, wouldst seem to be some Body in the Eyes of Men, when thou wert false and unsound, didst harbour and nourish some Viper in thy Bosom, ‘Introrsum turpis, speciosa pelle decorus:’ When thy secret Faults shall be exposed be­fore thy Neighbours, and Friends, and Children, And the shame of thy nakedness shall be made to appear, Revel, 3.18. How wilt thou then be confounded, and astonish­ed, and unable to lift up thy Head? What horrour will then seize thee, When thy con­fusion shall be continually before thee, and the shame of thy face shall cover thee? Psalm 44.15. It concerns thee therefore to look about thee in time, and search thy Consci­ence to the Bottom, to remove whatever grates, to cast out whatever offends, tho never so customary, never so pleasing to Flesh and Blood: to apply thy self to the Merits and Satisfaction of Christ Jesus for the Expiation of what is past; and for the [Page 213] future to resolve and endeavour the amend­ment of whatsoever hath heretofore been a­miss in thee; and to beg the assistance of the Divine Grace to strengthen in thee every good purpose and resolution of heart, and to enable thee to bring it to issue and effect. And for thy security, I think it good advice, to resolve so to behave thy self in thy retire­ments, so to live in the secret of thy Cham­ber and Closet, as though the doors were thrown open upon thee, and all the eyes of the World beheld thee; as though thou were't in the Arena of a publick Theatre ex­posed to the view of Men and Angels. I remember the Ingenious Writer of Politick Discourses Boccalini, doth often divert him­self and his Reader with facetious Reflecti­ons upon the contrivance of a Window into the Breast; which, if I mistake not, he fa­thers upon Lipsius. However he may deride it, I think it would be prudent counsel to give and take, for every Christian. So to live and carry it in the secret of his heart, as if there were a Window into his Breast, that every one that passed by, might look in thereat, and see all the thoughts and imagi­nations that passed there, that found any en­ [...]ertainment or acceptance with him. For though indeed God searches the hearts and [...]eins, and understandeth our thoughts afar [Page 214] off, Psal. 139.2. Yet such is the hypocrisie of mankind, that they do for the most part more reverence the eyes of men, than of God: and will venture to do that in his presence, which they would be ashamed the eyes of man should see them doing. You will say, Is it not better to be modest, than to be im­pudent? Is it not better to conceal, than to publish ones shame? Is it not better to re­verence man, than neither God nor man? Doth not the Scripture condemn a Whores fore-head? Is it not a true Proverb, Past Shame, past Grace? Was it not good advice of a Cardinal (as I remember) Si non castè tamen cautè? He that hath devoured shame, what bridle is there left to restrain him from the worst of evils? I answer, That it seems indeed to me, that publick sins of the same nature, are more heinous than secret; and that impudence in sinning, is an aggravation of the sin. For open sins dare God, and bid defiance to Heaven, and leave the sinner un­reclaimable, and are of more pernicious influ­ence. I do not now speak of the hypocrisie of feigning holiness to serve our own ends, which is rightly esteemed duplex iniquitas, but that of concealing and hiding vicious actions, to avoid the shame of men. And yet there is a great obliquity in this too. Be­cause even this is a slighting and undervalu­ing [Page 215] of God, a preferring of man before him, setting a greater price and esteem upon the praise and commendation of men, than the praise and approbation of God. John 12.43. God sees the secretest actions, yea, the most retired thoughts. They that believe this, and yet make bold to do in his presence, what the fear of man's eye would restrain them from, it is clear that they reverence man more than God, a poor, frail, impotent Creature like themselves▪ more than the most pure and ever blessed Creator. Nay, let the temptation to any sin be never so strong, and the natural inclination never so vehement, if the knowledge and conscience of men be a motive and consideration pow­erful enough to enable us to resist and repel them, had we but as firm a belief of the presence and inspection of God, and as great a reverence and dread of him, Why should not these have the same influence and effect upon us? Let us then avoid the hypocrisie of desiring to be thought better than we are, by endeavouring to our utmost to be as good as we would be thought to be, and if pos­sible, better. So shall we satisfie our selves that we seek the praise of God, more than the praise of men.

But to return from whence we digressed, though Daniel 12.2. shame and everlasting contempt shall [Page 216] at the general Resurrection be the portion of them who persist and die in their sins; yet a serious and unfeigned Repentance, attested by a holy Conversation for the future, is an effectual means to deliver us from this shame, whatever our forepast sins have been. For they shall not be produced against us, they shall not be objected to us at that day; they shall be buried in eternal silence and oblivion, and be as tho they had not been. And this O­pinion I hold 1. More agreeable to the Scri­pture, which in this matter makes use of the Terms of hiding, and covering, and blotting out, Psalm 32.1. Blessed is the man whose trangression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered. Esay 43.25. I even I am he that blotteth out thy transgressions, and will not remember thy sins. So Psalm 51.9. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Jerem. 48.34. I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more. Ezek. 28.22. All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be men­tioned unto him. Mich. 7.19. Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the Sea. And as it is more consonant to the Scripture, so is it 2. More grateful and consolatory to the Penitents. For the mere mentioning and re­citing of their sins before such an Assembly [Page 217] must needs refresh their shame and sorrow, and so diminish their happiness and joy. To which I might add, that it is written that our▪ Saviour at the last judgment in pronoun­cing the Sentence shall enumerate the good works of the Godly to their praise; but not a word said of producing their sins. I say I hold this Opinion more probable upon these accounts, than theirs who affirm they shall then be published, for the magnifying and advancing, the declaring and illustrating the Mercy and Grace of God in pardoning so great and heinous Offences.

It concerns us much to live in all holy Conversation in this World, as we desire to avoid that pain and misery, which we shall otherwise most certainly be adjudged to at that day: that indignation and wrath, tribu­lation and anguish, which God shall render to them that do not obey the truth, but obey un­righteousness: Rom. 2.8. That worm that dieth not, and that fire that is not quenched, Mark 9.44. and 46. and 48. that outer darkness, where is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth, Matth. 8.12. and 22.13. and 25.30. That furnace of fire, Matth. 13.42.50. That lake of fire and brimstone, Re­vel. 20.10. or of fire burning with brimstone, Revel. 19.20. Which places, tho they be not literally to be expounded, yet do they [Page 218] import at least a very sad and deplorable estate, a high degree of torment and anguish: and all this eternal and without intermission night and day. These shall go into everlast­ing punishment, Mat. 25.46. The State of the Damned is supposed to be a state of absolute and complete Misery, made up of the loss of the greatest good and a constant, fresh and lively apprehension of it; which Divines call Poena Damni. And 2. Excess of bodily pain and sufferings, and sad distress of trouble and mind occasioned by all manner of frightful Apprehensions, and vexatious Perturbati­ons and Reflections, which they call Poena Sensus; and this without any intermission or or hope of deliverance eternally. Jude 7. it is called the vengeance of eternal fire. Re­vel. 14.11. The smoke of their torment is said to ascend up for ever and ever. And Revel. 20.10. it is said of the Beast and false Pro­phet, that they shall be tormented night and day for ever and ever. If this be so, is't not our greatest Wisdom to use our utmost diligence and endeavour to avoid so deplo­rable a condition, and to secure our selves an interest in a future estate of everlasting Bliss and Happiness when this Life shall be ended?

But here the Epicureans and sensual per­sons will be ready to object and argue, [Page 119] Here are pleasures and delights in this World, which are very inviting and taking, and do highly gratifie my senses and appetites. I hear likewise of future rewards and pu­nishments for those that deny or fulfil their carnal lusts and desires. These sensual plea­sures I see, and taste, and feel, and am sure of, the other I do but only hear of, and there­fore they do not, they cannot so strongly affect me: Were Heaven and the happiness thereof set before my eyes, and did I see it as plainly and clearly as I do these things below, then indeed I should not need many motives to provoke me to endeavour the obtaining of it. But alas, that is far above out of our sight, the joys of Heaven are by the Apostle termed things not seen. Again, these outward and temporal enjoyments are present and easily obtainable; the other at a great distance, future, and besides very hard to come by; [...]d I love my ease, ut est ingenium hominum à labore proclive ad libi­dinem. Should I deny my self good in this life, and then perchance cease to be, and so have no reward for my pains; nay, on the contrary expose my self to the hazard of many afflictions and sufferings, which are the portion of the godly in this life, how unnecessarily shall I make my self misera­ble? Miserable I say, because by the Apostles [Page 220] own confession Christians, if in this life only they had hope, would be of all men the most miserable, 1 Cor, 15.19. Had I not better make sure of what is before me? Why have I these appetites within me, and such objects about me, the one being so suitable to the other, is it not more natural and reasonable to fulfil, than deny them? Surely it cannot be wisdom to lose a certain good for an un­certain hope; and for an ungrounded fear of Hell hereafter, to undergo a Purgatory here.

To this argumentation upon the false foundation of the uncertainty of a future estate of endless happiness or misery, accor­dingly as we have behaved our selves in this life, I answer,

That for the futurity of such an estate, we have the best Authority in the World, to wit, the holy Scriptures and universal Tra­dition.

1. The Holy Scriptures, whose Authority to be more than humane, hath been by ma­ny so clearly and convincingly demonstrated, that I shall take it for granted, and not waste time to prove it. The Testimonies herein contained concerning eternal happiness and misery are so clear and full, that it seems to me impossible without manifest distortion to elude or evade the force of them. Some we [Page 221] have already recited, and might produce many more, Isa. 33.14. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? Dan. 12.2. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to ever­lasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. 2 Thess. 1.9. Who shall be punish­ed with everlasting destruction from the pre­sence of the Lord, &c. speaking of them who know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Isa. 66.24. For their worm shall not dye, neither shall their fire be quenched.

What more common Notion among the Grecians and Romans, than of Elisium and Tartarus, the one to reward good men, the other to punish wicked? which, as ap­pears by what we have quoted out of Lu­cretius, were esteemed to be eternal states.

The Origenists and others, that cannot be reconciled to the Catholick Doctrine of the eternity of the punishments of the Damned, make the word [...], from which the Latin aevum is derived, to signifie sometimes a de­terminate time, as might easily be proved by many examples, and so [...] or [...], which we translate for ever, signifies when applied to this matter, a long indeed, but [Page 222] yet a finite time; and [...], which we render for ever and ever, may likewise signifie not an eternal duration, but a time to which some term may be set by God, though to us unknown. In the same sense they accept the Adjective [...] for a long, but finite time. But I am of S. Augustine's opinion, that [...] doth in the New Testament signifie the same with aeternus in Latin, and is appropriated to things that have no end: and that [...], for ever and ever, doth in like man­ner always denote eternal or endless dura­tion. That the word [...] when applied to the state of the Damned, doth signifie eternal, S. Augustine well demonstrates from the Antithesis in that place of Matth. 25.46. And these shall go away into everlasting pu­nishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Where it is in the same sense attributed to that life which is the reward of the righte­ous, and that fire which is the punishment of the Damned; there being no reason to be­lieve that the same word in the same Verse, when applied to opposites, should be taken in a different sense. But by the consent of all Christians it is granted, that the life of the blessed shall be eternal, therefore so must the punishment of the Damned be too.

[Page 223]This acception of the word [...] for eternal or endless, when it refers to the state of those miserable persons, receives a further and strong confirmation from the

Second Particular we proposed, that is, Ʋniversal Tradition: It being a received Opi­nion among the Heathen, which must needs descend down to them by Tradition from the Ancients, that eternal punishments a­waited the wicked after Death. Of this the Epicurean Poet Lucretius is a sufficient and unexceptionable Witness, for he living be­fore our Saviours time, could not derive it from any other source. He makes the fear of these punishments to be the cause of all the miseries of humane life, and the foun­dation of all Religion, ‘Aeternas quoniam poenas in morte timendum.’ And because it may be objected, that Aeter­nas may signifie only of long continuance, to put the matter out of all doubt, in ano­ther place he saith,

And that this Opinion and Belief general­ly prevailed among the people before Epi­curus his time, the same Lucretius testifies in the beginning of his first Book,

for he makes (as we saw before) the fear of eternal pain and misery, to be the foundation of all Religion.

1. Now because these Objectors do repre­sent Religion to themselves and others as a melancholick and disconsolate thing: and think and say, that those that enter into this state must bid adieu to all the pleasures of sence, and taste no sweetness in any worldly object. I shall endeavour to remove this prejudice. I say therefore, That our graci­ous God doth not envy us any real good that the Creatures can afford us, and there­fore hath not denied us a moderate use and fruition of any of them. And seeing he hath annexed pleasure to those actions that are necessary for the support of life, and continu­ation of kind, as a bait to invite us to the performance of them, it seems to me highly absurd and contradictious to affirm, that he hath forbidden us to partake or taste those enjoyments which himself had appointed as effectual means for the security of those great ends; and which are so necessary consequents of those actions, that we cannot but partake [Page 226] them. Where the Appetite is eager, God hath indulged, I might say commanded, a moderate and regular satisfaction. And we know, nay, the blindness of Atheism cannot deny, that the greatest pleasure results from a moderate and well circumstantiated use of pleasures. Voluptates commendat rarior usus: Now a religious man enjoys all the pleasures of these worldly and sensible goods, without any of the pain, which is annexed to the ex­cessive and irregular use, or indeed abuse of them: and besides, his pleasure is enhansed, in that he beholds and receives them as bles­sings of God, and tokens of his favour and affection; and is without all fear of a future sad reckoning for his participation of them. Howbeit a denial of our selves for Gods sake and cause in any thing which we might other­wise lawfully enjoy, though it be not com­manded, yet is accepted, and shall be re­warded by him.

Others there are who grant, That these words grammatically signifie as we contend, and that eternal punishments are indeed threatned to the wicked; but say they, these threatnings are intended only, as terricula­menta, or Bug-bears to Children, to terrifie and keep people in awe, and to preserve the World in some tolerable condition of [Page 227] quietness. And Origen himself, though he be of opinion, that these threatnings sig­nifie only temporary pains; yet he saith, that such mysteries are to be sealed up and con­cealed from the vulgar, lest wicked men should rush into sin with all fury and licen­tiousness, if this bridle were taken off, who by the opinion and fear of eternal and end­less punishments can scarce be deterred and restrained from it.

To this I answer, 1. That it seems to me indecorous and unsuitable to the Person and Majesty of God, to make use of such sorry and weak means to bring about his ends, as grave men can hardly condescend to. 2. I do not see how it can consist with his Vera­city, in plain terms, absolutely to threaten and affirm what he never intends to do.

Indeed it is questionable, Whether it be allowable in man: it being at best but an officious Lye: for it is a speaking what we do not think, and that with an intention to deceive.

Secondly, I proceed now to a second Ob­jection against the eternity of the pains and sufferings of the Damned, and that is, it's in­consistency with the Justice of God. What proportion can there be between a transient and temporary act, and an eternal punish­ment? The most rigid Justice can exact no [Page 228] more than a talio, to suffer as I have done. ‘ [...].’ if I have hurt, or grieved, or injured any man, to be punished with the same, or an equivalent suffering: if I have taken any unreasonable pleasure, to compensate it with an answerable pain. Indeed the enormities of my life cannot well deserve so much, if it be considered, that I have been strongly in­stigated and inclined, and as it were fatally driven upon all the evils which I have com­mitted, by those affections and appetites, which I made not for my self, but found in my self; and have been exposed to strong and almost inexpugnable temptations from without; beset with snares, encompassed about with innumerable evils.

To this I answer First, That every sin, in­jury, or offence is aggravated and enhansed by the dignity or merit of the person against whom it is committed. So Parricide is esteemed a greater Crime than ordinary Murther, and by the Laws of all Nations avenged with a sorer punishment. The like may be said of laesa Majestas or Treason. Now God is an infinite person, and Sin being an injury and affront to him, as being a vio­lation of his Law, an infinite punishment must be due to it.

[Page 229]This answer Dr. Hammond in his Practical Catechism, lib. 5. sect. 4. accounts a nicety and unsatisfactory, as also that other common answer, That if we should live infinitely, we would si [...] infinitely; and therefore gives us another, which in his Discourse of the Reasonableness of Christian Religion, he thus briefly summs up.

2. That the choice being referred to us to take of the two which we best like, eternal Death set before on the one hand, to make eternal life the more infinitely reasonable for us to chuse on the other hand, and the eter­nal Hell (whensoever we fall into it) being perfectly our own Act, neither forced on us by any absolute Decree of God, nor irresistible temptation of the Devil or our own flesh; but as truly our wish and choice and mad pur­chase, nay, much more truly and properly, than eternal Heaven is ( when our obedience is first wrought by Gods grace, and yet after that so abundantly rewarded by the Doner) it is cer­tain, if there be any thing irrational, it is in us unkind and perverse creatures (so obstinate to chuse what God so passionately warns us to take heed of; so wilfully to dye, when God swears he wills not our death) and not in him, who hath done all that is imaginable to be done to reasonable creatures (here in their way or course) to the rescuing or saving of us.

[Page 230]But to this may be replied, If the thing it self be unjust, how can our chusing of it make it just? How can it be just to annex such a penalty as eternal Hell to a short and transient offence? Suppose a Prince should make a Law, that whosoever did not rise up and bow himself before an old man, should be put to Death with torments; and one of his Subjects knowingly should trans­gress this Law upon some great temptation; would it not be accounted Cruelty in the Prince to execute this Law upon him? Laws may be unjust upon account of disproportio­nate penalties. Neither doth our choice much help the matter, for that is but an ef­fect of our error or folly, or, if you will, madness, which doth as little deserve eternal death as the sin committed doth.

If any man be dissatisfied with the prece­dent answers, all that I have to add further, is, that before this sentence adjudging to e­ternal death be pronounced against him, and executed upon him, there shall be such a re­velation made, as shall convince and satisfie him of the righteousness thereof. And this the Apostle seems to intimate Rom. 2.5. when he calls the great day of Doom, the day of the Revelation of the righteous judg­ment of God. Then shall be made appear [Page 231] what now to our dimsighted reason is not penetrable; How the Justice of God can con­sist with the eternal damnation of the wicked.

As for mans being as it were fatally de­termined to evil by the strength of tempta­tion, and the violence of unruly and head­strong passions and appetites: I answer, That there are motives and considerations sufficient to enable a man to resist and repel, to con­quer and overcome the most alluring and fascinating temptations, the most urging and importunate appetites or affections; such are certain shame and disgrace, and that not long to come, eternal infamy and dishonour; present death, strong fear and dread of ap­proaching death, or sad and intolerable pains or calamities. Now the Divine threatnings are of the greatest and most formidable evils and miseries that Humane Nature is capable of suffering; and therefore were they but firmly believed and apprehended, they would be of force sufficient to stir up in us such strong passions of fear and terror, as would easily chase away all temptations, and em­bitter all the baits of sensual pleasure.

3. There remains yet a third Objection against an eternal Hell, and that is, that it is inconsistent with the Divine Goodness. For [Page 232] the Unbeliever will say, It's contrary to all the Notions and Ideas I have of God, to conceive him to be so angry and furious a Being. How can it stand with Infinite Goodness to make a Creature that he fore-knew would be eter­nally miserable? We men account it a piece of goodness to pardon offences: And all pu­nishments are intended either for the refor­mation and amendment of the Offender, or if he be unreclaimable to prevent the mis­chief which he might otherwise do, or for an example to others to deter them from the like enormities: but I do not see for what such end any man can be eternally tormented. So that of such inflictions one may rationally demand, cui bono? What good comes of them? How then can they come from God, who by all mens confession is infinitely Good?

To which I answer: First, That God is just as well as good. You will say, what is Justice? It is an equal weighing of Actions, and rendring to every one his Right or Due. A setting streight again what was perverted by the sins and extravagancies of Men. Now that the breaking of order and equality in the world, this usurping and encroaching upon others Rights is a great Evil and ought to be rectified, some may take an Argument [Page 233] from the strong inclination and desire to re­venge Injuries, that is implanted in the nature of Man, and of all Creatures. You'll say, all desire of revenge is absolutely sinful and un­lawful. I answer, I am no patron of Revenge. I know the very Heathen by the light of na­ture condemned it.

Revenge is the pleasure of a weak and poor spirit. Yet let us hear what they have to say. 1. It is hard to affirm, that any innate appetite or desire is in it self simply and ab­solutely, and in all Circumstances whatso­ever unlawful, for this seems to reflect upon the Author of Nature.

To which may be answered, that a well circumstantiated desire of revenge may not be in it self unlawful, yet for the evil Con­sequents of it, it may be, and is prohibited by a positive Law. 2. Divine persons have prayed to God to avenge them, as David and the Prophets. And S. Paul himself, 2 Tim. 4.14. prays God to reward Alexander the Coppersmith according to his works. To which may be answered, that those Expressions are rather Predictions of what should befal their [Page 234] Enemies, than desires that they might. A­gain, whereas it is said▪ Revel. 6.9, 10. That the Souls of them under the altar that were slain for the word of God and the testi­mony which they held, cryed with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our Blood on them that dwell on the earth: Doctor Hammond saith, it signifies no more, than that their Blood cries to God for Vengeance, as Abel's is said to do. The Nature of Forgiveness seems to imply the Lawfulness of some desire of Revenge. For what is Forgiveness but a parting with, and a renouncing the Right I have to be avenged, and therefore before I forgive I do retain at least some will to be revenged. And I am not obliged by our Saviour to forgive absolutely, but upon con­dition of Repentance. Luke 17.3, 4. If thy brother sin against thee rebuke him, and if he repent forgive him, &c. And in the Lord's Prayer one Petition is, Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us. But God forgives not without Repentance. To which may be answered, That before Repentance, I may retain a will of punishing an Offender for his own Good and Reformation, but with no respect of a­venging what is past. And if his Repen­tance [Page 235] prevents his punishment, then I am to forgive him, that is, cease to desire his pu­nishment. But all allow Vengeance to be just in God, whose Actions are not to be scanned by our Measures.

2. If it be just with God to propose to us such a choice as Heaven upon condition of our Obedience to his Law, or Hell in case of Disobedience; as we see some wise Men make no scruple to grant; then it cannot be injustice in him to inflict the punishments of Hell upon them that make it their choice. Nay I cannot see how it can consist with his Veracity not to do it; why then should any Argument from his Goodness move us to distrust his Veracity? To which I shall add, That the very being of Sin and Mi­sery in the World is as great an Argument against the Goodness of God, as the eternal punishment of it: Sith we must needs grant, that God Almighty Blessed for ever, could, if he had pleased, have prevented it. If any Man shall say, This was not possible with­out changing the very Nature of Man, and taking away the Liberty of his Will. To him I reply, How then can he confirm the Blessed, reserving their Liberty? Or must we say with Origen, That they are in a mutable state too and that Heaven will [Page 236] have an end as well as Hell? If any Man re­main still unsatisfied with what hath been said, I must refer him for full satisfaction to the Revelation of the righteous Judgment of God at that great day, of which mention hath been already made.

I am as unwilling as any Man to limit the Mercies of God: but yet I must refer it to him, whether he will be more favourable than he hath threatened or no, whether he will remit something of the Severity of his Comminations. I am also willing to re­strain and confine the sense of these words [...], and [...] as far as the Con­text will permit. But let our Opinions and Hopes of the Mercies of God and a tem­porary Hell be what they will; a temporary Hell, I say, or rather a Purgatory instead of Hell: For the word Hell, according to the usual acception of it, includes Eternity. I shall propose two things to be considered.

1. That Origen the first Broacher of this Opinion of the Determination of the Pu­nishments of the Damned, doth acknow­ledge that the contrary Doctrine is very use­ful to restrain the common People from Sin: and that this is to be held as a great Secret, and studiously concealed from them. Now if it be of such eminent use to them, why [Page 237] may it not also be to the Learned and No­ble; who, I fear me, may want such a Bridle as well as they?

2. Since God hath threatned eternal pu­nishments, whether he intends to execute them upon us or no, it is clear, I think, he would have them be believed by us, else they cannot have that end and effect he designed them to; and therefore it must be unbelief and presumption in us to deny or distrust them, tho upon supposition, that they are irreconcileable with his Goodness; with which yet perhaps they may accord well enough, tho we cannot at present discern it. All Divine Revelations are to be believed and accepted by us, as well Threatnings as Promises; and if we may distrust the Vera­city of God in them, I know not but we may as well do it in these: if we deny the Eternity of the Torments of Hell, I do not see but that we may upon as good grounds with Origen deny the Eternity of the Joys of Heaven.

Let not then the presumption of a tem­porary Hell encourage thee to go on in sin: for, I fear, such a Persuasion may have an ill influence on the manners of Men. Eter­nity is the very sting of Hell: take that out, and the Sinner will think it tractable enough. [Page 238] The very thought of an eternal Hell inter­vening (and it will often intrude it self) strikes a cold damp to his very Heart in the midst of his Jollities, end will much qualifie and allay all his Pleasures and Enjoyments. Rid him of this fear, and he will be apt to despise Hell and all its Torments, be they never so grievous or lasting. Take off this Bridle, and, as we hinted before, he will rush into Sin as a Horse rusheth into the battel. He will be ready thereupon thus to argue with himself, What need I take so much pains to strive against Sin? What need I swim against the Stream, and resist the Tide and Eddy of my Passions, my natural Appetites and Inclinations, and the Solici­tations of Company? What need I maintain such a constant Watch and Ward against my spiritual Enemies, the Devil, the World, and the Flesh? If I fall into Hell at last, that is no eternal State, it lasteth but for a time, and will come to an end. I'll venture it: I hope I shall make a shift to rub through well enough. Let me ask thee, But how if thou shouldest find thy self mistaken? If the Event ftustrate thy Hopes, and fall out contrary to thy Expectation? What a sad case wilt thou be in then? How will the un­expectedness thereof double thy Misery? [Page 239] Improvisa graviùs feriunt. How wilt thou be strucken as it were with a Thunderbolt, when the Almighty Judge shall fulminate against thee a dreadful indeed, but by thee formerly undreaded Sentence, adjudging thee to endless Punishments? How wilt thou damn thine own Credulity, who by a groundless Belief of a temporary Hell, hast precipitated thy self into an eternal, which otherwise thou mightest possibly have a­voided?

Well, but suppose there be some shadow of hope of the determination of the punish­ments of the Damned: It is by all acknow­ledged to be a great piece of folly to leave matters of the highest moment, and which most nearly concern us, at uncertainties: and a point of Wisdom, to secure the main chance, and to be provided against the worst that can come. An eternal Heaven or state of compleat happiness is the main chance, and is not to come into any competition, or so much as to be put into the ballance a­gainst a few short, transient, sordid, loathed, and for the most part upon their own ac­count repented pleasures: To secure to our selves an interest in such a state is our greatest wisdom. And as for being provided against the worst that may or can come. [Page 240] What can be worse than an eternal Hell? which, there is I do not say a possibility, but the greatest probability imaginable, that it will be our portion; if we persist in im­penitency, and dye in our sins. But sup­pose the best should happen that we can hope or conceive, that Hell should last only [...], for Ages of Ages, and at last determine: do we think this a small matter? If we do, it is for want of conside­ration and experience of acute pains. Should any of us be under the sense and suffering of a raging Paroxysm of the Stone, or Gout, or Collick, I doubt not but rather than endure it for ten thousand years he would willingly part with all his expectation of a blessed estate after that term were expired, yea, and his being to boot. But what are any of these pains to the torments and perpessions of Hell? or the duration of ten thousand years to those Ages of Ages? If thou makest light of all this, and nothing can restrain thee from sin, but the eternity of punishment, thou art bound to thank God, who hath used this only effectual means, threatning an eternal Hell. And it ill becomes thee to complain of his rigour and severity, who wouldest have made so pernicious an use of his lenity and goodness. But thou who hast [Page 241] entertained such an Opinion, and abusest it to encourage thy self to go on in thy sins, though others should escape with a tempo­rary punishment, surely thou hast no reason to expect any milder doom, than to be sen­tenced to an eternal.