Miscellaneous Discourses, Chapter 4 – Chapter 5
CHAP. IV.
The Opinions of the Ancient Heathen Philoſophers, and other Writers concerning the Diſſolution.
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.
Principio maria ac terras coelúmque tuere,
Horum naturam triplicem, tria corpora Memmi,
Tres ſpecies tam diſſimiles, tria talia texta
Ʋna dies dabit exitio, multóſ que per annos
Suſtentata ruet moles & machina mundi.
But now to prove all this: firſt caſt an Eye
And look on all below, on all on high,
The ſolid Earth, the Seas, and arched Sky
One fatal Hour muſt ruine all,
This glorious Frame, that ſtood ſo long, muſt fall.
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. foreign, &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 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 foreign. Philo, foreign 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 foreign. 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 foreign 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 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 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, when they are turned out of their Roadway of Moral Sentences, and pretend to give an account of the Nature of Things. For what Errours can be more groſs than they entertain of God, of the Soul, and o… the Stars; they making the two former Corporeal Subſtances, and feeding the latter with the vapours of the Earth, affirming that the Sun ſups up the Water of the great Ocean to quench his Thirſt, but that the Moon drinks off the leſſer Rivers and Brooks, which is as true as that the Aſſe drank up the Moon. Such Conceits are more fit for Anacreon in a drunken Fit to ſtumble upon, who to invite his Companions to Tiple, compoſed that Catch,
foreign,
foreign.
then to be either found out or owned by a ſerious Philoſopher. And yet Seneca mightily triumphs in this Notion of foddering the Stars with the thick Fogs of the Earth, and declares his Opinion with no mean Strains of Eloquence, &c.
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 be ſo denominated foreign, 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. foreign. 2. Heraclitus, as the ſame Clemens ſhews at large out of him in the ſame place. foreign, amp;c. And Laertius in the Life of Heraclitus, He taught foreign. 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;
Eſſe quoque in fatis reminiſcitur, affore tempus,
Quo mare, quo tellus, correptáque regia coeli
Ardeat, & mundi moles operoſa laboret.
—Beſides by Doom
Of certain Fate, he knew the time ſhould come,
When Sea, Earth, raviſht Heaven, the curious Frame
Of this Worlds Maſs ſhould ſhrink in purging Flame.
And Lucan.*Lib. 7.
Hos Caeſar, populos ſi nunc non uſſerit ignis,
Ʋret cum terris, uret cum gurgite ponti:
Communis mundo ſupereſt rogus oſſibus Aſtra
Miſturus.—
If now theſe Bodies want their Fire and Urn,
At laſt with the whole Globe they'll ſurely burn;
The World expects one general Fire: and Thou
Muſt go where theſe poor Souls are wandring now.
Now through ſome are of an Opinion that by Fata here are to be underſtood the Sibylline 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.
foreign,
foreign
foreign.
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.
Tunc ardens fluvius caelo manabit ab alto
Igneus, at que locos conſumet funditus omnes,
Terrám que , Oceanúm que ingentem, & caerul… ponti,
Stagná que , tum fluvios, fontes, Ditém que ſeverum,
Coeleſtémque polum, coeli quoque lumina i… unum
Fluxa ruent, formâ deletâ prorſus eorum,
Aſtra cadent, etenim de caelo cuncta revulſ…
From Heaven then ſhall flaming River flow,
And quite diſorder all things here below;
The Whole ſhall melt into one ſingle Maſs
All forms deſtroy'd, into old Chaos paſs.
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. foreign. 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, 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.
CHAP. V.
…he firſt Queſtion concerning the World's Diſſolution, Whether there be any thing in Nature that may probably cauſe or argue a future Diſſolution? Three probable Means propounded and diſcuſſed.