Works, Exposition 16 – Treatise

Works · Exposition 16 – Treatise

p. 609A PARAPHRASE and EXPOSITION OF THE PROPHECIE of S. PETER, CONCERNING The Day of Christ's Second Coming;

DESCRIBED In the Third CHAPTER of the Second EPISTLE.

Verses 1, 2.

SAint Peter exhorts the believing Iews, unto whom he writes, to be mindful of the words of the holy Prophets,aaIf that which S. Peter here describeth were foretold by the old Prophets, then must S. Peter be so expounded, as it may be shewn in them and agree with them. Esay, Daniel and Malachi, concerning the coming of Christ to Iudgment, and the Restauration then promised; it being also confirmed by the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour.

Verses 3, 4. For howsoever it were then believed both by Iews and Christianed Gentiles; yet inaaThis foreign, or last days, should seem to be the time of the Churche's Apostasie under Antichrist, according to that of S. Paul, 1 Tim. 4. 1. In the latter times some shall depart from the Faith, giving heed to spirits of error and doctrines of Daemons. For as the times of the fourth and last of Daniel's Kingdoms were the last times in general, during which Christ was to come and found his Church and Kingdom: so the latter times of the Fourth Kingdom, being that period of a Time, times and half a time wherein the wicked Horn should domineer, are the latmost times of the last times, or last times in special.1 Tim 4:1 the last days should come those who, walking after their own desires, (or humors) should deny and deride the expectation of any suchbbI take Promise here for Res promissa the thing promised; the Antithesis implying that to be the meaning, viz. The scoffers say, Where is the Promise of his coming? Nevertheless we look for a New heaven and New earth, according to his Promise. But here is somewhat (Reader) in the application wherein thou mayest erre; but be not thou uncharitable in thy censure, nor think I am. For although the crying down and condemning of the opinion of the Chiliasts will be found to be near upon the beginning of the times of the Antichristian Apostasie, (which I suppose to be called the last times;) and that the utter burying of that Opinion falls within these times: yet thou must know, 1. That there is not the like reason of the first Authors of crying down a Truth, and of those who led by their authority take it afterward, without further examination, for an Error. 2. To scoff is one thing, and barely not to believe is another. 3. 'Tis one thing to deny a promise simply, and another to deny or question the manner thereof; as also to reject a Truth sincerely propounded, and when it is intangled with errors, as that of the later Chiliasts may seem to have been. promise of the Day of Christ, saying, Where is theccI take Promise here for Res promissa the thing promised; the Antithesis implying that to be the meaning, viz. The scoffers say, Where is the Promise of his coming? Nevertheless we look for a New heaven and New earth, according to his Promise. But here is somewhat (Reader) in the application wherein thou mayest erre; but be not thou uncharitable in thy censure, nor think I am. For although the crying down and condemning of the opinion of the Chiliasts will be found to be near upon the beginning of the times of the Antichristian Apostasie, (which I suppose to be called the last times;) and that the utter burying of that Opinion falls within these times: yet thou must know, 1. That there is not the like reason of the first Authors of crying down a Truth, and of those who led by their authority take it afterward, without further examination, for an Error. 2. To scoff is one thing, and barely not to believe is another. 3. 'Tis one thing to deny a promise simply, and another to deny or question the manner thereof; as also to reject a Truth sincerely propounded, and when it is intangled with errors, as that of the later Chiliasts may seem to have been. promise of his coming? Where is the New heaven and New earth you talk of?

p. 610Verse 4. pars altera. The reason of this their unbelief being, because they imagine there hath never yet since the creation of the World been any example of such a destruction and change ensuing it as this at the coming of Christ should be. For since the Fathers fell asleep, (say they) even since Adam died, all things have continued as they were from the beginning of the creation. Therefore the expectation of any such change of the World and the state of things therein (as is supposed) is vain and frivolous, and never to be fulfilled.

As touching the Iews, and the impeachment of this Opinion amongst them in the latter times, I find amongst the Doctors of the Gemara or Gloss of their Talmud (which was finished about 500 years after Christ) a Tenet of one R. Samuels often mentioned, foreign That there was to be no difference between the present state of the world and the days of Messiah, but in respect of the bondage under the Kingdoms of the Gentiles only; thereby opposing the more ancient opinion and tradition of the Renovation of the World. After this time there appears to have been amongst the Iews a Sect of the followers of the opinion of this R. Samuel, which at length was greatly advanced by the authority of that learned Maimonides, who having drunk too deep of the Philosophy of Aristotle, (wherein he was admirably skilful) became a champion against the opinion of the world's renovation to be in the days of Messiah; and that upon this ground, Quòd mundus retinet & sequitur consuetudinem suam: which saying he ascribeth to some other Rabbins of the same opinion before him, which for the sense and meaning is the self-same with that here of the scoffers, All things (say they) continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. Nevertheless Aben Ezra, who lived not long after Maimonides, maintained still (as also others did) the contrary; and there are extant certain Discourses and Tractates amongst them purposely written of this Argument, and confuting the opinion of R. Moses ben Maiemon and his followers; as one called foreign Coeli novi, proving the necessity of the Renovation of the World, and directed against cap. 29. lib. 2. of Maimonides his More Nebochim. Another by R. Isaac Abarbinel, called foreign, Opera Dei, (out of Psal. 66. 5.) wherein all the arguments brought against the Renovation are confuted. And no doubt there are more of the like nature, which we know not of.Ps 66:5Verses 5, 6. But those who suppose this, (foreign) that there hath never yet any such destruction and change befallen the Creation, and thence conclude there is no such nor shall ever be; they weigh and consider not the universal Deluge in the time of Noah (when the curse laid upon the creature for man's sin first solemnly took place) brought, as a like destruction, so a like change, upon the world for the degeneration of the creature, as this at the second coming of Christ shall be for the restauration and renovation of the same in the day of the glorious liberty of the children of God. For the Heavens were of old, and the globe of the Earth, consisting partly [foreign] of water, (viz. that of the Great deep) and partlyaaforeign sometimes signifies inter, amongst, or in the midst of, as if it were2 Tim. 2. 2. foreign, inter multos testes. Vide Notas B. foreign So Herodotus, foreign, inter insulas. Howsoever we render the Preposition, I suppose S. Peter by his foreign means the superior water, which together with that of the Sea or Great deep concurred to the drowning of the World, as appears by the place of Genesis alledged. [foreign] amongst water, to wit, the clouds and floud-gates of heaven hanging about it; all framed by the word of God: By which waters [foreign] the world which then was, being overwhelmed with water, perished; as it is written, Gen. 7. 11, &c. In the 600. year of Noah's life, in the second month, the 17. day of the month, were all the Fountains of the Great deep broken up, and the Floudgates (or Cataracts) of heaven were opened: and verse 18. And the waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth—And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattel, and of beast, and of every creeping thing, and every man—verse 21.

Verse 7. But the Heavens and the Earth (that is, the World) which is now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved untoaaFrom this proportion which the Iudgment to come by Fire hath unto that which was by Water in the Deluge, Irenaeus calls it Diluvium ignis, Lib. 5. cap. 29. juxta Edit. Fevardentii. fire at the Day of Iudgment and perdition of ungodly men; according to the prophecy of Daniel (c. 7. v. 10, 11.) who saw a fiery stream p. 611issuing and coming forth before the Iudge of the world, and the body of the fourth Beast burned therewith: And of Esay (chap. 66. 15, 16.) who saith of that day, That the Lord shall come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebukes with flames of fire: And that by fire and by his sword, (i. e. by his sword of fire, foreign) the Lord would plead with all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many bbIt may be it is of this day the same Prophet Esay also speaks chap. 9. 5. where he saith, The battel of the Messiah should not be as the battel of the warriour, with confused noise, and garments rolled in bloud; but with burning and fuel of fire. For the old Prophets (for the most part) speak of the coming of Christ indefinitely and in general, without that distinction of First and Second coming, which the Gospel out of Daniel hath more clearly taught us. And so consequently they spake of the things to be at Christ's coming indefinitely and altogether, which we, who are now more fully informed by the revelation of the Gospel of a two-fold coming, must apply each of them to its proper time: those things which befit the state of his First coming, unto it; and such things as befit the state of his Second coming, unto his Second; and what befits Both alike, may be applied unto Both.. So also Mal. 4. 1. That the great and terrible day shall burn as an oven, and all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, which at the coming of that day shall be burnt up.

Verse 8. But whereas I mentioned (saith S. Peter) the Day of Iudgment, lest ye might mistake it for a short day, or a day of a few hours, I would not, beloved, have you ignorant, that One day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one dayaaThus I expound these words by way of a preoccupation or premunition; because they are the formal words of the Iewish Doctors when they speak of the Day of Iudgment or Day of Christ, as S. Peter here doth, viz. foreign, una dies Dei Sancti Benedicti sunt mille anni. And though they use to quote that of the ninetieth Psalm, (Mille anni in oculis tuis sicut dies hesternus) for confirmation thereof; yet are not those words formally in the Psalm. So that S. Peter in this passage seems rather to have had respect to that common saying of the Iews in this argument, than to the words of the Psalm; where the words [One day with the Lord is as a thousand years] are not, though the latter part of the sentence [A thousand years as one day] may allude thither; as theTrad. R. Ketinae in Gemara San…edrin. Midrasch, i… hillim super Ps. 90. Iews also were wont to bring it for a confirmation of the former. 2. These words are commonly taken as an argument why God should not be thought slack in his promise (which follows in the next verse:) But the first Fathers took it otherwise; and besides, it proves it not: For the question is not, whether the time be long or short in respect of God, but whether it be long or short in respect of us; otherwise not only a thousand, but an 100 thousand years are in the eyes of God no more than one day is to us, and so it would not seem long to God, if the Day of Iudgment should be deferred till then. 3. Let the judicious consider it, whether this passage so prone to be taken in the exposition I have given, yea and alledged to that purpose, were not some part of a motive to the zelotical Anti-chiliasts (whereof Eusebius, whom we trust, was none of the least) to be so willing and ready to question the authority of this Epistle, as they did also at the same time of the Apocalypse. The pretence against this Epistle was, because it wanted the testimony of allegation by the first Fathers. But [Dies Domini sicut mille anni] quoted both by Iustin Martyr and Irenaeus, is not out of the ninetieth Psalm, as they took for granted, (for there are no such words) but out of this Epistle of Peter, who applies it to the Day of Iudgment, which he calleth foreign, the Day of the Lord. Consider it.Ps 90

p. 612Verse 9. And though this Day be long deferred, yet is not the Lord slack concerning his promise (as some men account slackness, as if he had alter'd his purpose, or meant never to perform it;) but the cause of this delay is his long-suffering towards usaaS. Peter speaks and writes in this Epistle to his brethren the Iews, as appears by the first verse of this chapter. of the seed of Israel, not willing that any should perish at that day, but that our whole Nation should come unto repentance,bbTherefore the same S. Peter in his first publick Sermon to his Nation in the Temple, after the sending of the Holy Ghost, (Acts 3. 19, &c.) exhorts them to repent and be converted foreign, for the washing away of their sins, That so (foreign) those times of refreshing and restitution of all things, which God had spoken by the mouth of all his holy Prophets, might come; which till then were to be suspended. Object. But God could have hastened the Iews conversion, if it had pleased him. Resp. But it stood not with the oeconomy of his Iustice, when the Iews had rejected Christ, their expiation, to grant them this grace, until they should have fulfilled a time of penance for all the sins of their Nation, even from the first time they were a people until the last destruction of Ierusalem. For since they would none of their pardon and attonement by Christ, (with respect unto whose coming God had so long spared them; for all their expiation by Sacrifice looked unto him) God would not bate them an ace of the judgment they had merited, but would visit all the former sins of their Nation upon them, from the golden Calf, until their crucifying and final rejecting of their MessiahActs 3:19 which, if that Day should surprise them in their unbelief, must inevitably perish with the rest of the enemies of Christ.

Verse 10. But as for the manner of the coming of this great Day of the Lord, it shall be suddenly and unawares, as a thief in the night, in which theaaWhat these Heavens are, and why I render foreign the host of them, and how this Conflagration is to be understood, I will shew when I have done my Paraphrase. Heavens with a crackling noise of fire shall pass away, and the foreign aaWhat these Heavens are, and why I render foreign the host of them, and how this Conflagration is to be understood, I will shew when I have done my Paraphrase.or host of them shall melt with fervent heat; the Earth also and the works therein shall be burned.

Verse 11, 12. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and godliness, to make our selves fire-proof, and such as may abide the day of refining? As namely becometh those who by faith look for and hasten the coming of the Day of the Lord, wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the host of them melt with fervent heat. For our life and conversation ought to be sutable to our faith, and we are so to walk as if that were always present which by faith we look for.

Verse 13. But this Conflagration ended, (whatsoever those Scoffers say who question the promise of Christ's second coming) we look, according to his promise (Isa. 65. 17 & 66. 22,) for a New heaven and a New earth, (that is, a new and refined state of the World) wherein righteousness shall dwell, according as the same Prophet saith, chap. 60. 20, 21. The Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended; Thy people also shall be all righteous, they shall inherit the land (or earth) for ever.

Verse 14, 15, 16. Wherefore, beloved, (seeing that ye look for such things at his coming) be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless; and account the long-suffering of God in the delay thereof to be for salvation. Even as our beloved Paul also, (one of the Apostles of our Lord, who confirmeth these words of the holy Prophets) according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; enforcing the like exhortation unto holiness of life, from this our faith and expectation of the Lord Iesus his appearing to judgment, which we now make unto you; namely Heb. 12. 14, 28, 29. As also in all his Epistles, speaking in them of these things, viz. Rom. 2. 4, 5, 6, 7. | 1 Cor. 1. 7, 8. &. 3. 13. | 2 Cor. 5. 9, 10, 11. initio, & 7. 1. | Phil. 1. 10. & 2. 15, 16. also 3. 20, &c. | Coloss. 3. 4, 5. | 1 Thess. 2. 12. & 3. 13. denique 5. 23. | 2 Thess. 1. 8, &c. 1 Tim. 6. 14, 15. | Tit. 2. 12, 13.

Verse 16. foreign, Amongst which things concerning the Second coming of Christ are somethings hard to be conceived, which those which are unlearned and not well setled in p. 613the Faith, like unto these Scoffers, stumble at, as they do at other Scriptures, taking occasion thereby to stagger and doubt of the truth of God; so perverting the Scriptures from their right end, by making them the means of their own destruction, which were given by God as a means whereby they might believe and be saved.

How this Conflagration of the World whereof S. PETER speaks, and especially of the Heavens, is to be understood.

FOR resolution of this Question, I must premise some things, to make the way thereto the more easie.

1. That in the old Hebrew language, wherein the Scripture speaks, there is no one word to express that Compages of the superior and inferior bodies, which we call Mundus, but those two words, Heaven and Earth, foreign joyned and put together, only: So that when S. Peter saith, The World which then was, perished by water; but the Heavens and the Earth which are now, are reserved to fire, he might as well have said, according to his meaning, The Heavens and the Earth which then were, perished by water; as the World that now is shall by fire. For the words [Heaven and Earth] joyned imply no more in the one (according to the Scripture's notion) than the single word Mundus or World doth in the other, being applied to the history of the great Deluge: As also a New heaven and a New earth is the same notion with that in our expression, when we say, a New World, that is to say, Nova rerum facies, nova rerum conditio; which we otherwise apply to very small and even particular and domestical changes, when we say, Here is a new World; which the Hebrew would or might express, Here is a new Heaven and a new Earth.

2. That it is not like that any other World, or Heaven and Earth, shall perish by Fire, than such a one as heretofore perished by Water: For so the Antithesis imports, viz. The World, or Heaven and Earth, which then was, perished by water; the Heaven and Earth which now is, is reserved for a destruction by fire. Now the World which perished by water was no other than the sublunary World; the Heaven whereof is that which we call Aire, but the Scriptures Heaven: which sublunary Heaven, together with the Earth, was marred by that general Deluge; and the creatures belonging to them both either wholly destroyed, or marvellously corrupted from that they were before. Such a World therefore, and no other Heaven and Earth, shall undergo this second deluge of Fire for restauration, which before suffered the deluge of Water for corruption.

3. Observe also, for the better understanding of S. Peter's meaning, That the word foreign, which we in this place are wont to turn Elements, is not like to be understood in the notion of the Greek Philosophy, whose terms and notions the Scripture useth not; but otherwise divideth the World. Nay further, in this place it cannot be so understood; for that the Hebrew division of the World into Heaven and Earth is here expressed, and these foreign distinguished from them both. But when the whole World is divided into Heaven and Earth, foreign, by Earth is meant the Earthen Globe, which S. Peter saith is foreign, and so the Water and Earth are both included in the sole name of Earth: in Heaven the Air is included. Thus three of the Philosophical Elements are bestowed. The fourth is the Fire: but this is that which is to burn the foreign, and so none of the foreign to be burnt. And if any of these Elements could be exempted from this division into Heaven and Earth, besides the Fire, as namely the Air; yet could not that, nor any one of them alone, be foreign in S. Peter; for foreign notes more than one.

It must needs therefore be that foreign here meaneth something else. Let us see if we can find out what it is. Mark then S. Peter's order, foreign, then foreign. By which correspondence it should seem that foreign should be some furniture belonging to Coelum, as foreign are the buildings and whole furniture of Creatures belonging to Terra; which furniture of both, but especially that of the Heaven, the Scripture calls foreign the host of them, Gen. 2. 1. The heavens and the earth were finished, foreign and all the host of them; LXX. foreign p. 614Vulg. Ornatus eorum. Nay, seeing the whole World is nothing else but the Heaven and the Earth, and what is contained in them, (i. e.) exercitus eorum; and seeing Heaven and Earth are both here distinctly named, and foreign put for the host of the Earth; it must needs be that foreign, named as a distinct thing from all three, should note the host of heaven: and so the meaning of S. Peter should be, when he saith foreign, as if he had said, foreign, the Heavens and the host thereof; or, foreign, as he says, foreign, the Earth and the works therein.

But how, will some man say, should foreign come to have this notion? I answer thus, The Hebrew verb foreign signifieth, in ordine militari sto, incedo, and so answers to the Greek verb foreign, which is expounded foreign, i. e. in ordine militari incedo: Vide Scap. ex Etymolog. Accordingly the LXX render the Hebrew foreign, i. e. in procinctu sto, instructâ acie sto. Now if the verb foreign signifie the same with the Greek foreign, why may not the Hebrew Noun foreign (which we turn exercitus) be rendred foreign; the Hellenists, or Greekish Iews, as in other words, so here, following the Etymology from foreign, and having an eye more to their own native language than to the use of Greece? It would be long to shew in how many words they, and the Greek Scriptures written according to their Dialect, use notions which the Greeks used not; namely, respecting some conformity or other in their own tongue. The works of the learned in sacred Criticism are of late full of such observations, whereby many difficulties and obscurities in Scripture become clear and easie. Nevertheless the Gentile Greeks themselves use foreign and foreign (which come of the same verb foreign) in the same sense we plead for, viz. for ordo militaris, Military array: Why may not then the Hellenists (so theSee the Syriack, Acts 9. 29. where foreign are …u…ned Iudaei qui loqueban…ur Gracé.Acts 9:29 Greek Iews are called) do the same with foreign, being for the Etymology every way as fit? seeing also they are otherwise wont to permute significations from vicinity of sound?

For a further confirmation of this notion of foreign I contend for, I will add what I have met with to that purpose. Schickardus, a learned professor of the Oriental tongues at Tubing, in his Bechinath happeruschim, pag. 44. hath discovered out of Ramban's, or R. Moses ben Nachman's Preface in Perusche hattorah, two passages taken out of the Chaldee copy of the Wisdom of Solomon, which that Rabbi had seen; whereby the said Schickardus proveth against S. Ierome, that the Greek is not the Original, but was translated out of Chaldee. The passages which this Ramban quoteth thence are chap. 7. v. 5, 6, 7, and part of the 8. and again, v. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21. In the last of which quotations, because there is in the Greek foreign, I greedily looked what word in the Chaldee answered here to foreign, which I found to be foreign, which those who have skill know to signifie the Planets, 12 Signs or Constellations of Heaven, as being the same with the Hebrew**I have since looked in the Preface of Ramban, where I found those Chaldee passages mentioned, which the Rabbi translates into Hebrew: and for the Chaldee which answereth to foreign … he renders foreign. foreign therefore here are Stars and Planets; which I shall not need prove to be the host of the Ethereal heaven: yea and perhaps too foreign and foreign are derived of the verb foreign ire, as foreign is of foreign.

Now we know the Scriptures make three heavens: 1. The Air, or Sublunary heaven; 2. The Ethereal, or Starry heaven; 3. The heaven of Glory, or Empyreal heaven. Every of these heavens have their host or army. The host of the heaven of Glory or the third heaven are the Angels and blessed Spirits: The host of the Ethereal heaven are the Stars and Planets: The host of the Aereal or Sublunary heaven are either visible, as the Clouds of Heaven (foreign) and other Meteors, as also the rest of the creatures mansioning therein, as the Fowls of heaven (foreign) or invisible, viz. the wicked Spirits and Devils, whose Prince, Satan, is called the Prince of the power of the Air, Eph. 2. 2. and his host foreign, rulers of the world, that is, of the Sublunary world; and foreign, wicked spirits in heavenly places, namely in the lowest or sublunary heavens, Eph. 6. 12. And whether S. Paul. Gal. 4. 8, 9. and Gol. 2. 8, &c. includes not some of those under his foreign, I cannot affirm: let the Learned further consider it, when namely he speaks to and of Gentiles, and not Iews.

HAVING hitherto prepar'd the way, let us now come closer home to S. Peter, whose words evidently import that some of these Heavens, or all of them, shall suffer a Conflagration at the Day of Christ. Not all of them; for who ever put the Empyreal heaven in that reckoning? And for the Ethereal heaven, he that considereth both the supereminent nature and immensity thereof, and of those innumerable bodies therein, in regard of which the whole Sublunary world is but a point or centre; and that it no way can be proved that ever those bodies received any curse for mans sin, or contagion by the world's deluge, or that any enemies of God dwell in them to pollute p. 615them; he that considereth this, will not easily be induced to believe that the Fire of the day of Iudgment should burn them. It remaineth therefore that the Sublunary heavens only with their foreign are to be the subject of this Conflagration.

These Heavens, saith S. Peter, foreign, i.e. solventur, shall be dissolved, and their foreign shall melt with fervent heat. 'Tis a Metaphor taken from the refining of metalls, quae igne solvuntur ut purificentur, which are melted in order to their purifying and refining. So that foreign is as much as Coeli igne adhibito constabuntur. This to be the meaning of foreign appears, because S. Peter himself interprets solvi to be liquefieri. For having in the tenth verse said, foreign, i.e. shall be dissolved, he in the twelfth verse repeating it says, foreign, i.e. shall melt: Now melting is for refining and purifying. Nor is the word foreign averse from this notion, the LXX using foreign for the Hebrew foreign, as in the Psalms more than once: The words of the Lord are as refined or tried silver, LXX. foreign, Psal. 12. and so elsewhere. But when the Sublunary heaven shall be thus refined, even the Ethereal lights of the Stars, of the Sun and Moon, &c. will appear to those on earth much more glorious than now they do, as sending their raies through a purer Medium; so that all the world to us-ward shall be as it were renewed.

As for foreign (or passing away) verse 10. it is an Hebraism, signifying any change or going of a thing from the state wherein it was, and answers to the verb foreign, which signifieth both transire and mutari, as foreign also in Chaldaism doth. And Schindler notes, that Psal. 102. the Arabick for foreign, mutabuntur, hath foreign, transibunt. In the twelfth verse it is expounded by foreign but foreign, I have already shewed, is commuted with foreign. They therefore all three of them signifie one and the same thing: and I see no reason why we should imagine a greater emphasis in foreign for an utter abolition in the destruction by fire, than was before implied in foreign, when he spake of the destruction by water: foreign (saith he) foreign, vers. 6.

But what shall become of the invisible host, which I named as part of the foreign of this Sublunary heaven, viz. those foreign, the army of wicked and unclean spirits? shall the Fire of the last Iudgment touch these? I answer; Though the operation of the Fire shall not be upon them to burn them, yet shall they also suffer by this fiery judgment, being thereby to be exiled and dejected from those high mansions, and bestowed in some lower place. For so that of Iude seems to imply; The Angels (saith he) which kept not their first estate, but left their own (or proper) habitation, he hath reserved to [be bound with] everlasting chains of darkness, at the Iudgment of the great Day. Vide Piscat. in hunc locum.

And this seems to me to be the most literal and unforced exposition of this description of S. Peter, of the Heaven and Earth's conflagration at the Day of Christ, and so to be preferred before any other.

BUT if a Prophetical strain or Scheme may be here admitted, there is another way of explication, which yet in the conclusion will come to the same purpose the former did, although the way thereto be not the same. And certainly our Saviour in the Gospel describing the coming of this Day, useth a Prophetical expression: The Sun (saith he) shall 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. For if this be taken literally, whither shall the Stars fall from heaven, which are either as big, or many times bigger than the globe of the earth? where shall there be room for them? If such a Scheme then be supposed in S. Peter's description, the explication may be after this manner.

Mundus or the World (to omit other particular acceptions) is, according to the Scripture's use, either Mundus continens, or Mundus contentus; (give me leave to use these terms for distinction sake.) By Mundus continens I mean the Compages and frame of the Physical heaven and earth, wherein the rest of the creatures are contained: by Mundus contentus, the state or body of the inhabitants and Kingdoms of the earth. Now to whatsoever the notion of Mundus is appliable, there is also supposed to be an Heaven and Earth, as being the names and parts whereby the Scriptures express the World. The Heaven then of this Political world is the Sovereignty or Sovereign part thereof; whose Host and Stars are the powers ruling that world: In the highest place Gods and Idols; next, Kings, Princes, Peers, Counsellours, Magistrates, and other such Lights shining in that Firmament. And at such a meaning p. 616and no other (it being an Oriental notion) may aim (for ought I can see) that supposed fastuous style of Sapores King of Persia to Constantius the Emperour, Rex Regum Sapores, frater Solis & Lunae, partiçeps. (i.e. socius) Siderum, Constantio fratri salutem. But to go on: The Earth is the Peasantry or vulgus hominum, together with the terrestrial creatures serving the use of man.

Of such a Heaven and Earth as this is, the Lord speaks in the Prophecie of Haggai, Ch. 2. v. 6, 7. Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, both the sea and the dry land; And I will shake all Nations, and the desire of all Nations shall come. And again v. 21, 22. I will shake the heavens and the earth; And I will overthrow the Throne of Kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the Kingdoms of the Heathen, &c. Of such a Heaven and Earth speaks Ieremy, Chap. 4. 23. I beheld the earth, and it was without form and void (foreign,) and the heavens, and they had no light: viz. as if the World were turn'd into the old Chaos again, Gen. I. See the rest which follows. Of such Heavens and an Earth speaks the Lord in Isaiah ch. 51. 15, 16. namely of the Heavens and Earth of the World or State of Israel: I am (saith he) the Lord thy God, who divided the sea, (to wit, the Red sea) when the waters thereof roared; the Lord of Hosts is his name: And put my Words (i.e. my Law) in thy mouth, and covered thee in the shadow of my hand, (i.e. protected thee in thy march to Canaan, &c.) that I might plant the Heavens, and lay the foundations of the Earth, (i.e. make thee a State, and build thee into a Political World) and say unto Sion, Thou art my people. Of such a kind of Heaven speaks the same Prophet, ch. 34. 2, 4, 5. The indignation of the Lord is upon all Nations, and his fury upon all their Armies, &c. 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 the leaf falleth off from the Vine, and as a falling fig from … sig-tree. For my sword shall be bathed in Heaven: behold it shall come down upon …maea, &c. See the rest, and know that this destruction of Edom is prophesied of in no less Hyperbolical a strain by Obadiah, and Ieremy c. 49. from v. 7, to 22. Ezek. 35. tot & 25. 12. which I note, lest any man wondring at the Hyperbole of this of Esay, should think it appliable only to the Day of Iudgment. And that such Schemes as these were usual to the Nations of the Orient, may appear not only by the Chymical Philosophy derived thence, (which makes Heaven and Earth and Stars in every thing) but from the testimony of Moses Maimonides, who (More Nebechim par. 2. c. 29.) affirms that the Arabians in his time in their vulgar speech, when they would express that a man was fallen into some great calamity or adversity,Compare Lam. 2. 1.Lam 2:1 used to say, Coelum ejus super terram ejus cecidit. No question these Schemes were as familiar to them as our Poets strains and expressions are to us, though of another genius: ours are borrowed from fables, stories, persons, places; theirs were from the frame of the World, the Sun, Moon, Stars and Elements, &c.

If such a notion of Coelum and Terra may have place in this place of Peter, (and why may he not, uttering a Prophecy, borrow a Prophetical strain?) it may easily appear what Heaven and Earth the Fire at Christ's second coming shall burn up and consume, viz. the Heaven and Earth of the contained world, such as those which the former judgment by water overwhelmed and destroyed; the world of wicked States and men, high ones and low ones, Princes and Peasants, man and beast; according to that twice-repeated passage, Isa. 2. 11, 17. (which the ancient Iews interpreted of the Day of Iudgment,) The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day: And the Idols (these are part of the host of the Heaven we speak of) he shall utterly abolish. And of such Heavens and foreign as these, it mattereth not though we understand an absolute destruction, (namely, of so much as shall be burned) as was in the Deluge of Noah: and so likewise of the Earth and works thereof. But whereas by the universal Deluge, though only the Mundus contentus perished, yet nevertheless the Mundus continens was therewith corrupted and depraved; in the destruction by Fire it shall be otherwise; for the world of wicked ones being destroyed, the Heaven and Earth w^ch contained them shall be purged and refined for the righteous todwell therein.

This Exposition I put but in the second place, because where the proper sense of the letter may be kept, I prefer it before any other.

To conclude, If any there yet be whom neither of the former Expositions can satisfie, but will needs have the fire and burning here spoken of to be that whereby the World is to be utterly annihilated; I could answer, That the Day of Iudgment is a thousand years, and this Fire, though it be to be foreign, in that day, yet p. 617shall it not be in the beginning, but end thereof: The beginning being but a destruction of the enemies of Christ and the Kingdom of Satan, and then a restauration; the end, a destruction of the whole creature it self by utter annihilation: and then S. Peter's words, ver. 13. to be construed after this manner, That howsoever the Heavens and the Earth shall at length be dissolved by fire; nevertheless before that shall be, we look for a New heaven and a New earth (i.e. a new world or restauration) to precede this abolition; according to his promise, Isa. 65. 17. & 66. 22.

But such an exposition, methinks, would not suit so well with that which I take to be S. Peter's chiefest scope in this passage, nor with the words of the holy Prophets he pointeth at, which seem to speak only of a Fire which should precede a restauration, and not of that which should cause an utter abolition of the world.

And as concerning such an utter abolition of the whole frame of Heaven and Earth after the Oeconomy of the redemption and victory of Christ shall be finished, it seemeth to me a mystery which hath no bottom. Howsoever I am not perswaded this place of S. Peter should mean any such thing. Those passages, Iob 14. 12. and Apoc. 20. 11. may seem to be of more moment. And if any such annihilation shall be, it stands more with reason it should be by the immediate power of God, without the instrument of any creature, than by Fire; and that he who at first brought it out of nothing without any creature's help, should reduce it again to nothing without the help of any creature.

foreign.

A Collection of some passages in the ancient Fathers, shewing that by foreign are meant the Host and Furniture of Heaven, &c.

IUSTINUS M. Apol. 1. pro Christianis, statim ab initio. foreign [Sic leg. non foreign] foreign, &c. Interpres non intellexit.

Ità accipit THEODORETUS foreign ad Galat. cap. 4.

Apud THEOPHILUM Antiochenum Luminaria & Astra veniunt nomine foreign. Lib. 1.—foreign.—Et Paulò pòst— foreign. Lib. 2. foreign, &c. Ideo foreign. Ibid.—Nec solùm idolorum cultum**Respicit Deut. 4. 19. & 17. 3.Deut 4:19Deut 17:3 Lex Divina inhibet, foreign Vide & quae sequuntur.

In Epistola POLYCRATIS (Episcopi Ephesini) apud Eusebium lib. 3. cap. 25. de obitu Philippi & Ioannis.—foreign. Verte jam Magna Luminaria.

AUTHOR Quaestionum ad Antiochum inter opera Athanasii, Quaest. 37. (vel 16.) Solem foreign nuncupat.—foreign (Solem intelligit) foreign

De voce Elementi, vide CYPRIANUM in Exhort. ad Martyr. cap. 1.

I. M.

p. 618Of the FIRE at Christ's Second Coming. An Extract of Mr. Mede's Letter to Mr. N. E. relating to some Passages in this Treatise upon 2 Pet. 3.

CHrist our Lord shall come, when the Beatum Milleunium is to begin, foreign,2 The… 1. 8. in flaming fire; by the Divine and miraculous efficacy whereof the World that now is shall be refined, and delivered from the bondage of corruption which came upon it for the sin of Man.

This Fire of Christ's coming, and no other, was that Ignis Purgatorius which some of those first Fathers harped on: namely, they supposed this Divine Fire should stretch even to the Souls of the dead; and that such as had departed out of this life not fully purged of sin by Repentance here, should not be found Fire-proof at that day, but be refined cum mora & dolore before their resurrection. See that of Cyprian Epist. 52. Aliud est ad veniam stare, aliud ad gloriam pervenire; aliud mi…um in carcerem non exire inde donec solvat novissimum quadrantem, aliud scatim fi… & virtutis accipere mercedem; aliud pro peccatis longo dolore cruciatum emundari & purgari diu igne, aliud pendere in Die Iudicii ad sententiam Domini, aliud statim à Domino coronari. Compare that of Irenaeus lib 1. c. 2.—Christum in suo de coelis adventu foreign **foreign hic pro poena posita videtur, non virtute… quam poenam in mo…a resurrectionis constituit Tertul.foreign—This conceit sure had its ground from that of Paul, 1 Cor. 3. 13. The day (viz. of Iudgment) shall declare, [what is combustible in our works] because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every mans work, of what sort it is: and upon that exhortation of Peter, 2 Pet. 3. 14. Yet did they, at least some of them, expect another fire at the end of the thousand years for the destruction of Gog and Magog, &c.—

I. M.

Some Excerpta out of the Fathers concerning the Renovation of the World. Tertullianus lib. 3. adversus Marcionem, cap. 24.

NAm & confitemur in terra nobis Regnum repromissum; sed ante coelum sed alio statu: utpote post Resurrectionem in Mille annos, in civitate divini operis Hierusalem coelo delatâ, quam & Apostolus Matrem nostram sursum designat, & politeuma nostrum, id est, municipatum, in coelis esse pronuncians, alicui utique coelesti civitati eam deputat. Hanc & Ezechiel novit, & Apostolus Ioannes vidit. Hanc dicimus excipiendis resurrectione sanctis, & refovendis omnium bonorum utique Spiritualium copiâ in compensationem corum quae in seculo vel despeximus vel amisimus, à Deo prospectam. Siquidem & justum & Deo dignum illic quoque exsultare famulos ejus, ubi sunt & afflicti in nomine ipsius. Haec ratio Regni coelestis. [N. B. Sic vocat quod in terris futurum asserit, utpote de coelo sive coelitus; vel in quo coelestis & Angelica vivetur vita.]

Post cujus Mille annos, intra quam aetatem concluditur sanctorum Resurrectio, pro meritis maturiùs vel tardiùs resurgentium, tunc & mundi destructione & Iudicii conflagratione commissâ, demutati in atomo in Angelicam substantiam, (scilieet per illud incorruptelae superindumentum) transferemur in coeleste Regnum.—

In the Former of these testimonies we have Tertullian's authority for the applying of Ezekiel's Temple to the New Ierusalem: In the latter, for the time of the world's p. 619conflagration and its destruction, Tertullian differs from the rest, I am sure from Irenaeus. Unless by judicii conflagratio (Vide enim de Spectaculis c. 30.) he meaneth that of Gog and Magog, Apocal. 20. 9. But I think he doth not.

Idem, de Resurrectione Carnis, cap. 25.

Eliam inaaApocal. 6.Rev 6 Apocalypsi Ioannis ordo temporum sternitur, quem Martyrum quoque animae sub altari ultionem & judicium flagitantes sustinere didicerunt; ut priùs & orbis de bbAp. 15. & 16.pateris Angelorum plagas suas ebibat, & prostituta illaccAp. 17. Civitas à decem Regibus dignos exitus referat, &ddAp. 19. Bestia Antichristus cum suo Pseudopropheta certamen Ecclesiae Dei inferat, atque ita Diabolo ineeAp. 20. abyssum interim relegato, Primae Resurrectionis praerogativa de soliis ordinetur; dehinc & igni dato, universalis Resurrectionis censura de libris judicetur.

Idem, adversus Hermogenem, cap. 11.

—Imò & judicium frustrà constituit Deus, in justitia utique puniturus, quibus contra malum finis, cùm praeses ejus Diabolus abierit inaaAp. 20. ignem quem praeparavit illi Deus & Angelis ejus, priùs inputeum abyssi relegatus; cùm… bbRom. 8.Rom 8Revelatio filiorum Dei redemerit conditionem (id est, creaturam) à malo, utique vanitati subjectam; cùm restitutâ innocentiâ & integritate conditionisccIsa. 11.Isa 11 pecora condixerint bestiis, & parvuli de serpentibus luserint; cùmdd1 Cor. 19. Pater filio posuerit inimicos sub pedes, utique operarios mali.

Origenes contra Celsum, lib. 3.

foreign. Interpres hîc non bonâ fide egit.

Idem in Ierem. Hom. 13. Siquis servaverit lavacrum Spiritûs Sancti, (i.e. ut paulò antè innuerat, qui sanctus est, neque post fidem & magisterium Dei rursum ad scelera conversus est, qui mortale peccaetum non commiserit) iste in Resurrectionis Primae parte communicat. Siquis verò in secunda Resurrectione servatur, iste peccator est, qui ignis indiget baptismo, &c. [alludit ad illud Mat. 3. 11.] Quamobrem cùm talia post mortem nobis residere videamus, Scripturas diligenter simul recitantes reponamus eas in cordibus nostris, & juxta earum vivere praecepta nitamur; ut ante excessionis diem (si sieri potest) peccatorum sordibus [sic vocat leviora peccata, seu passiones animae, ut paulò antè] emundati, cum sanctis valeamus assumi in Christo Iesu, [annon respicit, 1 Thes. 4. 16, 17?] cui est gloria & imperium in secula seculorum. Amen.

Quamvis non dubito quin Hieronymus (qui in Prol. ad Orig. homil. in Ezech. fatetur se vertisse 14 Origenis homilias in Ierem.) hîc Origenis sententiam nonnihil immutando emolliverit; tamen satìs adhuc remanet quo Origenes cum Millenariis sensisse arguatur.

**Martyrio c… ronatus est ad extremum novissimae persecutionis; vel, ut alii, sub Decio & Valeriano. Petar.Methodius Olympi Lyciae, deinde Tyri, Episcopus in Libro de Resurrectione contra Originem apud Epiphanium (Haeres. 74.) interloquente Procl.

Et verò foreign, &c.

I. M.

THE APOSTASY OF THE LATTER TIMES; OR THE GENTILES THEOLOGY OF DAEMONS

Revived in the LATTER TIMES amongst Christians, in Worshipping of Angels, Deifying and Invocating of Saints, Adoring of Reliques, Bowing down to Images and Crosses, &c.

All Which, Together with the Original and Progress of this Grand Apostasy, Are Represented In several Elaborate DISCOURSES upon 1 Tim. 4. 1, 2, &c.

Howbeit the Spirit speaketh expressely, That in the Latter times some shall revolt from the Faith, attending to erroneous Spirits and Doctrines of Daemons, Through the hypocrisie of Liars, having seared consciences, Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats.

By The Pious and Profoundly-Learned IOSEPH MEDE, B. D. sometime Fellow of Christ's College in Cambridge.

The Fifth Edition, enlarged and corrected in sundry places according to the Authors own Manuscript.

p. 623THE APOSTASY OF THE LATTER TIMES.

A Treatise on 1 Timothy Chap. 4. Verse 1, 2, &c.

foreign &c.

Which I conceive may be thus Translated,

Howbeit the Spirit speaketh expresly, That in the latter times some shall revolt from the

Faith, attending to erroneous Spirits and**Doctrin…s Deastrorum. Doctrines of Daemons,

Through the hypocrisie of Liars, having seared consciences.

Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, &c.