The Court of the Gentiles, Discourse · Part 1 · Book 3 · Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. Ethnick stories of the Worlds Conflagration, The laſt Judgment, Mans future Immortal ſtate, from ſacred Oracles.
Plato of the Worlds Conflagration. The Stoicks foreign from the Jews. Teſtimonies ancient & Moderne to confirme the ſame. 2. Pet. 3.7. foreign. Pagan notices of the laſt Judgement. The Jewiſh opinion of the Seven Thouſandth year to be the day of Iudgment. Plato's thouſand years from Jewiſh Tradition. The opinion of Plato touching the Souls Immortal ſtate, which he acknowledgeth was conveighed by ancient Tradition. Thales, Pherecydes, and others touching the Souls Immortalitie.
§. 1. HAving demonſtrated what evident Notices and Traditions the Pagans had of the firſt Deluge, or Deſtruction of the old World by Water, we now proceed to ſhew, what diſcoveries they had of the laſt Conflagration or Diſſolution of the World by Fire, with the day of judgment enſuing, and that in Imitation of Scripture Tradition, or Sacred Prophecie. As for the Worlds Diſſolution by Fire, that it was well known to the Jews, (though we find no mention thereof in the old Teſtament) we may ſafely conjecture; becauſe we find it mentioned in a book called Cedrus Libani: alſo Peter in his ſecond Epiſtle to the diſperſed Iews, chap. 3. v. 9, 10, 11. 2. Pet. 3.9,10,11.makes mention of a promiſe touching the day of the Lord, wherein all things ſhould be diſsolved &c. which poſſibly refers to Enochs prophecie of the laſt Judgment mentioned by Jude, v. 14, 15. Jude 14.15.& that Pagan writers received their Contemplations of the world's Diſsolution by fire, frō ſome Oracles, originally Jewiſh, ſeems evident. The Poets in their fictions, make Pyrrha the wife of Deucalion: whereby they ſymbolically ſignifie unto us, that as the world was formerly deſtroyed by Water, ſo it ſhould be again by Fire: for foreign, whence Pyrrha, ſignifies fire. Plato's opinion of the laſt conflagration.So Plato in his Timaeus fol. 22. tels us, that the great V…ſsitudes and Diſſolutions of the World ſprang from Fire and Water: and he begins with that by Fire, which he thus expreſſeth: That fable which is ſo common amongſt you, touching Phaeton, the Son of the Sun, his burning the world with fire, &c: this I ſay foreign hath the figure of a fable, but the truth is this; there ſhall be a great parallaxe (or change) of things in Heaven and Earth; and in a ſhort time, a great Diſſolution of all things upon the earth, by reaſon of much fire. Thus Plato, who here evidently refers the fabulous ſtory of Phaetons burning the World to the laſt conflagration. So Serranus on this place: It is, ſaies he, the common opinion of the Platoniſts, that the VVorld ſhall be deſtroyed by fire: which they ſignifie by the word foreign, refinement by fire. Plato delivers this as the explication of the Egyptian Prieſt, in anſwer to Solons queſtion about Pyrrha, Phaeton, &c. Tis poſſible this Egyptian Prieſt, from whom Solon received this Tradition, was himſelf a Jew, though concealed by Plato: however that the Tradition was originally Jewiſh, we doubt not but to demonſtrate.
§. 2. The Stoicks foreign.Neither was this the opinion of the Platoniſts only, but alſo of ſome other Sects of Philoſophers, eſpecially of the Stoicks, who generally aſſerted, the diſſolution of the World by fire, which they termed foreign, expurgation by fire: and that in imitation of, and derivation from the Iews. So Seneca, Quaeſt. Natural. 3.13. The Worlds period ſhall be by fire. The like Seneca Epiſt. de Conſolat. ad Polyb. fol. 64. There are ſome things that threaten ruineto the VVorld: and this world, which comprehends all things divine and human, ſhall, if we may believe it, one day be diſſipated, and immerſed in its old confuſion and darknes. Again fol. 92. he ſpeaks more plainly thus. And when the time ſhall come, wherein the world being to be renewed, muſt extinguiſh it ſelf, all things ſhall fall by their own power; and the ſtars ſhall ruſh upon the ſtars; and all matter burning in one fire; what ever now ſhines in the World ſhall then Burne. 2 Pet. 3.7.Grotius in his Annotat. on 2. Pet. 3.7. acquaints us that Seneca had theſe Traditions from the Stoicks, who called this final diſſolution of the World by fire, foreign. This Zeno, of Cittium, received from the Phenicians. For Cittium was a Colonie of the Phenicians in Cyprus. Heraclitus received the ſame from the Pythagoreans. Pythagoras had it from the Jews. There is a mention of this Tradition in the book called Cedrus Libani: as God in times paſt let looſe the raines to the waters, ſo will he again let them looſe to fire. So Sophocles
foreign
foreign
Heraclitus's opinion hereof is related by Diogenes Laertius in his life thus, foreign. There is one World, and that produced of fire, and ſhall he again reduced into fire. Ovid Metam: lib. 1. fab. 7. expreſſeth this laſt conflagration thus:
Eſſe quo que in fatis reminiſcitur affore tempus,
Quo mare, quo tellus, correpta que regia coeli
Ardea…, & Mundi moles operoſa laboret.
Lactantius thinks this ſprang from the Sibylls prophecies: but theſe, at leaſt as now extant, ſeem ſpurious. I ſhould rather conclude that all theſe Ethnick Stories of the laſt conflagration, owe their Original to ſome Jewiſh Traditions; as it may appear by what follows.
§. 3. Beſides what obſervations we have made out of Heathen writers; we have the ſame confirmed by Chriſtians, both ancient and moderne. Teſtimonies of Ancient and Modern touching the Worlds Conflagration.Minutius Faelix obſerves this to have been the general perſuaſion of Stoicks, Epicureans, and Plato: his words are (pag. 110.) theſe. Among the Stoicks it is a conſtant opinion that the humor being conſumed, this world ſhall turne into fire: and the Epicureans have tho ſame ſentiment of the conflagration of …he Elements, and of the ruine of the Vniverſe. Plato ſaies, that the parts of the world ſhall now be drowned, and at another time burned, &c. And that theſe Prophetick diſcoveries of this final Conflagration, were diffuſed amongſt the Gentiles, from ſacred Oracles originally, is confirmed by what we find to this purpoſe in Amyraldus, Theſes Salmur. par. 3. de Reſurrectione, pag. 890. Some ſhadow (ſaies he) of this truth touching the Reſurrection, ſeems to have been apprehended by thoſe, who, in times paſt held, the world ſhould be purged by fire, which the Stoicks called foreign, purification by fire; whence they affirmed it ſhould be ſo reſtored, as that every one ſhould receive a new life. And although this may ſeem to be fetcht from Zeno's Porch, and ſo to relate to their fate; yet the Stoicks derived it from elſewhere, for Zoroafter was of the ſame opinion, as Clemens Alexandrinus Strom. 5. and Diegenes Laertius affirmes, that Theopompus, a Peripatetick Philoſopher, drew the ſame from the Diſcipline of the Magi. Again Clemes Alexandrinus attributes the ſame perſuaſion to Heraclitus, who received it from the Barbarick Philoſophie i.e. from a certain conſent of all thoſe men, which amongſt various Nations paſſed for Wiſe men. VVhichWhich ſeems to have flowed originally hence, that God in times paſt indulged his people with ſome knowledge of the Deſtruction and Reſtauration of the Vniverſe. Thus Amyraldus. That by the Barbarick Philoſophie, whence Heraclitus derived theſe notions of the final conflagration, muſt be meant the wiſdome of the Iews, we have hereafter (part. 2. book 1. chap. 2.) proved.
§. 4. 2. Pet. 3.7.But none ſpeaks more fully to this preſent purpoſe than Grotius in his Annotat on 2. Pet. 3.7. foreign] This ſaies he is a moſt ancient Tradition confirmed by Chriſt: we have teſtimonies of this Tradition in Hyſtaſpes, the Sibylles, and Sophocles; alſo in Ovid, Seneca, Lucan, as we have ſhewn in our Annotates ad lib. 1. de. veritate Chriſt. Relig. about the the end. An Indicium whereof we have in the obſervation of the Aſtrologers, touching the approach of the Sun towards the earth: of which ſee Copernicus, Revolutionum lib. 3. cap. 16. &c. Then he concludes thus. Theſe Celeſtial fires being jumbled together with the Subterraneous, thence that final Conflagration, ſo fatal to the world, ſhall ariſe; as formerly the Floud from the coalition of the Celeſtial waters, and the Subterraneous &c.
§. 5. Pagan Notices of the laſt JudgmentNeither were the Heathens without many broken Traditions concerning the laſt Iudgement, which we may no way doubt were conveighed to them, originally, from the Iewiſh Church or ſacred fountain. The Iews had clear Notices of the laſt judgement, which was to enſue upon the worlds Conflagration, and that, as we may preſume, from Enochs Prophecie common amongſt them, Jude. 14.15.as Iude intimates v. 14.15. or from other Divine Revelations. And more particularly, the Iews had a common and famous Tradition of the worlds duration 6000. years, and the 7000. year to be the day of Iudgement &c, of which ſee Auguſt. de civit. Dei lib. 22. cap. 7. and Lud. Vives thereon: alſo Mede Diatr. 4. pag. 476 to 491. Broughton likewiſe, in his Principal Poſitions pag. 14. aſſerts the ſame out of the Iewiſh Rabbins viz. that the world at the 6000 year by the old expectation, in all likelyhood ſhall end. So Mede (Diatr. 4. pag. 490) ſaith it is true the primitive Fathers, eſpecially thoſe that believed the Chiliad, conceived the world ſhould laſt and the church therein labour 6000 years; The Jewiſh perſuaſion of the 7000 year to be the day of Judgmentand that the 7000 ſhould be the day of Iudgement, and Sabbath, in which the Saints ſhould reign with Chriſt their Lord, according to the Iewiſh perſuaſion. Now that the Heathens had ſome fragments and Traditions hereof, may be evinced out of Plato de repub. lib. 10. fol. 621, where he thus Philoſophizeth Seing the ſoul is Immortal and patient of labor, we muſt, by a kind of pleaſing violence, follow on towards the Celeſtial bliſſe, that we may be friends to our ſelves, and the Gods, and Victors in that long paſſage of the thouſand years &c. The Platonick year an Image of the day of Judgment.His own words are theſe, foreign, that we may live happily here, and in the thouſand years when we come to them. Here Plato makes mention foreign, of a paſſage of a thouſand years which comes very near the fornamed Iewiſh Tradition of the 7000 year being the day of Judgment; whence ſprang that notion of Annus Platonicus the Platonick year, which I take to be the ſame with, or at leaſt a corrupt imitation of the Iewiſh 7000 year, wherein they place the day of Iudgment. Again Plato, in the ſame lib. 10 de Repub. fol. 614. mentions a Phenician or Egyptian Fable of Gods righteous Iudgment in that great Platonick year, his words follows: Truly I will relate to thee a Fable of Herus Armenius, an excellent perſonage, of the Stock of Pamphilius; who being raiſed from the dead, related thoſe things he ſaw in Hell. He ſaid therefore, that after his ſoul was ſeparated from his bodie, he travelled with many, and came into a certain Divine place, in which he ſaw two hiatus's or breaches of earth very near unto him; alſo two others above in heaven. Between theſe hiatus's there ſate judges; who after they had paſſed judgment on the ſouls of men deceaſed, commanded the juſt to aſcend on the right hand, into the upper place of Heaven, with the monuments of their judgment hung before them: but the unjuſt, on the contrary, they comanded to paſſe to the left hand, into the lower place, with memoires of all that they perpetrated in their life time, hanging behind them. Thus Plato: and Serranus on this place addes, that Plato here, to demonſtrate the juſt judgment of God, brings a certain foreign fable (or foreign) taken from the Doctrine of the Egyptians or Phenicians. That Plato derived theſe his contemplations of the laſt judgment from the Moſaick Doctrine, is rationally argued by Lud. Vives, in August de civit dei lib. 22. cap. 28. Thus Euſebius (lib. 2. praepar. evang.) ſuppoſeth that Plato received by Tradition, from the Moſaick doctrine, both the mutation of the world, and the Reſurrection, and the judgment of the damned in Hel. For Plato relates, that time being expired, the terrene ſtock of mankind ſhould come under a Defection, and the world ſhould be agitated with unwonted manners; yea ſhaken with the vaſt Deſtruction of all living things: then, after ſome time, it ſhould be again ſetled by the endeavor of the ſupreme God, who, that the world might not fall in pieces and periſh, will again receive the Government thereof, and adde to it Eternal youth and Immortalitie.
§. 6. Pagan fragments of the Reſurrection, laſt Judgment, and Immortall State of the Soul.Yea there ſeems to have been a Catholick fame and Tradition diffuſed amongſt mankind touching the Reſurrection, Laſt Iudgment, and Immortalitie of the Soul which could not, as we may rationally conceive, have its original from any other, ſave the ſacred fountain of Iſrael. Socrates is brought in by Plato, (in Phaedone fol. 91) philoſophizing on the ſouls ſubſiſting and duration after the Bodies diſſolution: and upon a ſuppoſition of Cebes, that this duration might be long, but not eternal; Socrates undertakes to demonſtrate, that mens Souls endure for ever. His words are foreign. Cebes truely ſeems to grant this unto me, that the ſoul is more laſting than the bodie: but this remains uncertain to all, whether the ſoul, after the conſumption of many bodies, it ſelf having put of the laſt bodie periſheth &c. Upon this Queſtion Socrates begins a new Diſpute, and proves, that the ſoul never periſheth; becauſe it was ſpiritual, and foreign. What Plato means by his foreign is well explained by Alcinous of Plato's Doctrine, cap. 25: foreign &c. Plato ſaith that the ſoul was ſelf mobile becauſe it hath an innate or connate life, ever acting of it ſelfe. Farther Plato, in his Timaeus, Philebus, Phaedrus, Mino, Books of common wealth, and epiſtles, over and again proves the Immortalitie of the ſoul. Yea Ariſtotle himſelf, albeit in his lib. 1. de Anima, he ſeems to reject his Maſter Plato's foreign, yet elſewhere he ſeems inclined to aſſert the ſouls immortalitie, ſo lib. 1. de anima text. 4. he deſcribes the Soul foreign to be void of paſsion and mixture i.e. Simple and incorruptible. So again textu 7. foreign what is ſenſible is corporeal; but the mind is ſeparate i.e. incorporeal and ſpiritual; whence he concludes textu 19.20. foreign &c. The mind alone is ſeparate, what ever it be & this alone is immortal & eternal. See more of this Ioh. Grammat praef. ad Ariſt. de Anim. and Voſſ. Idol. lib. 1. c. 10. Pagan fragments of the Reſurrection, laſt Judgment, and immortal ſtate of the Soul.Plato in Phaedo tels us that men ſhould revive, and from the State of dead become living, and the ſouls of dead men ſhould remain, and that, in thoſe who were good, better, but in thoſe who were bad, worſe. Again, Plato (or who ever elſe were the compoſer) epiſt. 7. gives us ſome account of the conveyance of theſe Traditions, touching the Souls final Iudgment and Immortalitie. His words are foreign &c. We muſt alwaies give credence to the Ancient and Sacred Traditions, which declare unto us, that the ſoul is immortal, and that it hath Iudges, and receiveth great Iudgment when tis ſeparated from the bodie. This foreign, ancient and ſacred word, or Tradition, whereby they came to underſtand the Immortalitie of the ſoul and its future ſtate, Plato, elſe where (as we have obſerved) ſtiles foreign, a Divine and more ſure word. For having proved the ſouls Immortalitie &c, by the beſt rational arguments he could produce, he concludes, there was a Divine and more ſure word or Tradition whereby it might be known: This Divine and more ſure word, was no other than the Divine Scriptures, termed 2. Peter. 1.19 a more ſure word of Prophecie; as we ſhall hereafter prove. The firſt Founders of Grecian Philoſophie Thales, Pherecydes, and Pythagoras, (who much traded in oriental, and Iewiſh Traditions) were very poſitive in their Aſſertions, touching the ſouls Immortalitie: Plutarch, 1o de Placent. Philoſ: making mention of Thales and Pythagoras their Heroes or Daemons, ſaies they held them to be foreign Souls ſeparate from bodies. Aſcenſus animae infelicitatem, id quod Plato a Moſe mutuatus eſt Sandf. Deſcenſ. l. 2. 1. Sect. 84.Moreover Plato's fable of the ſouls Deſcent into the bodie, and Aſcent again unto Felicitie ſeems borrowed from Moſes. Thales Mileſius the Head of the Jonick Philoſophers defined the ſoul foreign, a being alwaies mobile and ſelf mobile. And Diogenes Laertius ſaies of this Thales foreign, Some ſay, that he was the firſt that affirmed the ſoul was immortal. i.e. Thales was the firſt that diſcourſed philoſophically, of the ſouls Immortalitie; which he learned whilſt he was in Egypt, by Tradition, originally from the Iewiſh Church, or Patriarchs as we have proved in what follows of Thales's Philoſophie. Pherecydes Syrus Pythagoras's maſter aſſerted the ſame touching the ſouls foreign Immortalitie, and future ſtate, which he received by Tradition immediately from the Phenicians, (he himſelf being deſcended from them) but originally from the Iews, as we have endevored to demonſtrate, in the account of him & his philoſophie. Cicero in 1. Tuſcul. quaeſ. ſaies that Pherecydes was the firſt that aſſerted the Immortalitie of the Soul; and that this opinion was after him confirmed by his Scholar Pythagoras.Diogenes Laertius, in his proem, tels u… foreign, Theopompus affirmed, that according to the Magi men ſhould revive and be immortal. That the Magi Traduced this, as other pieces of their Philoſophie from the Church of God originally, we have endeavored to prove, in what follows of their philoſophie. Caeſar in his commentaries de bello Gal. lib. 1. And Valerius Maximus lib. 2. cap. 6. aſſert the ſame of the Druides; namely that they had this particular and ſtrong perſuaſion that the ſouls of men periſhed not. Yea, beſides what has been mentioned, Owen Theol. lib. 1. cap. 8. addes, that throughout America, there were ſcarce any who doubted hereof; yea ſome had received Traditions of the laſt Reſurrection, and that before our Europeans arrived in thoſe parts. From whence he argues that there had obtained a Catholick fame touching future Judgment, which perſuaſion was accompanied with a preſumption of the ſouls Immortalitie; which though it might be demonſtrated by reaſon, yet ſeeing it gained credence rather amongſt the vulgar ſort than among the Sophiſts cannot be aſſcribed to any other than Tradition; whence he concludes all theſe things, 'tis evident, were conveighed throughout all mankind, from moſt ancient Tradition &c. Thus alſo Sandford Deſcenſu l. 2. Sect. 84. tels us, that whatever the Ancients Philoſophized, touching the various ſtates of ſouls, in the Sun and Moon &c, this may be, not without the Imitation of ſacred Scriptures, referred to the Heavenly manſions. And when Plutarch ſaies that the Sun who gave the mind receives it again; how near does this come to that of Solomon Eccleſ. 12.9. The ſpirit returnes to God that gave it. We may affirme the ſame of the Indians: Strabo, lib. 15: affirmes that the Brachmans fabled the ſame with Plato, foreign, touching the Immortalitie of the ſoul; and that herein they did foreign, Symbolize in Dogmes with the Grecians. Yea according to the atteſtation of Hackwell; and other of our Engliſh men, who viewed An. 1595 thoſe oriental parts, the Bamianes, Indian Prieſts, inhabiting Cambaia affirme, that the Soul returnes whence it came; and that there is a Reſurrection of the bodie &c. The reſurrection of the bodie, and its Reunion with the ſoul, is ſuppoſed to have been preſerved and tranſmitted among the Heathen Philoſophers, under that corrupt perſuaſion of their ſouls foreign termed alſo foreign, & foreign, Tranſanimation, Migration from bodie, to bodie and Regeneration. Which not only the Pythagoreans, but alſo many other Philoſophers both oriental and more weſterne, maintained, as the Egyptians according to Herodotus, who, ſaies Pythagoras, had this Tradition from them. The like Iulius Caeſar lib. 6. affirmes of the Druides, in France. And Appianus in Celticis affirmes the ſame of the Germans. Yea Ioſephus Antiquit. lib. 18. cap. 2 affirmes the ſame of the Phariſees. Thus Voſsius Idololat. lib. 1. cap. 10. It was (ſaith he) the common conſent of Nations, that the ſoul ſubſiſted after it's ſeparation from the Bodie; yea among many there were reliques of its reconjunction with the bodie, which we call the Reſurrection. But this they greatly corrupted in that of the foreign Metempſuchoſis &c. Thus have we demonſtrated what evident notices the Heathens had of the laſt conflagration, with the enſuing Iudgment, and mans immortal ſtate, & all from ſacred oracles & Traditions.