Miscellaneous Discourses, Chapter 11
CHAP. XI.
Whether ſhall the Whole World be conſumed and annihilated, or only refined and purified?
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 foreign or Reſtitution, Acts 3.21. Whom the Heavens muſt contain until the time of the reſtitution of all things. Speaking of our Saviour: and foreign 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. foreign. 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… 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 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, foreign. 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, foreign. 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 foreign, The Periodical Regeneration of all things. And *Lib. 5.Origen againſt Celſus ſaith of the Stoicks in general, foreign. 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 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 foreign 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, 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.
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 foreign 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,
Hom. II.—foreign
foreign,
foreign.
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 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 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.
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▪ 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.