Miscellaneous Discourses, Chapter 9
CHAP. IX.
The fifth Queſtion anſwered; At what Period of Time ſhall the World be diſſolved?
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 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 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. foreign, &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. 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 foreign 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 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 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.