The Mother-Abyss is no doubt that in the Beginning of Genesis, v. 2. which had nothing but Darkness upon the Face of it, or a thick caliginous Air. The next News we hear of this Abyss is at the Deluge, (Gen. vii. 11.) where ’tis said to be broke open, and the Waters of it to have drowned the World. It seems then, this Abyss was clos’d up some Time betwixt the Creation and the Deluge, and had got another Cover than that of Darkness. And if we will believe Wisdom, (Prov. viii. 27.) who was there present at the Formation of the Earth, an Orb was set upon the Face of the Abyss, at the Beginning of the World.

That these three Places refer to the same Abyss, I think, cannot be questioned by any that will compare them and consider them. That of the Deluge, Moses calls there Tehom-Rabbah, the great Abyss; and can there be any greater than the forementioned Mother-Abyss? And WISDOM, in that Place in the Proverbs, useth the same Phrase and Words with Moses, Gen. i. 2. על פני תהום upon the Face of the Deep, or of the Abyss; changing Darkness for that Orb of the exterior Earth, which was made afterwards to inclose it. And in this Sort it lay, and under this Cover, when the Psalmist speaks of it in these Words, Psal. xxxiii. 7. He gathereth the Waters of the Sea, as in a^[11] Bag; he layeth up the Abyss in Store-houses. Lastly, we may observe, that ’twas this Mother-Abyss, whose Womb was burst at the Deluge, when the Sea was born, and broke forth as if it had issued out of a Womb; as God expresseth it to Job, ch. xxxviii. 8. in which Place the Chaldee Paraphrase reads it, when it broke forth, coming out of the Abyss. Which Disruption at the Deluge seems also to be alluded to Job xii. 14, 15. and more plainly, Prov. iii. 20. by his Knowledge the Abysses are broken up.

Thus you have already a three-fold State of the Abyss, which makes a short History of it; first, open, at the Beginning; then covered till the Deluge; then broke open again, as it is at present. And we pursue the History of it no farther; but we are told, Apoc. xx. 3. That it shall be shut up again, and the great Dragon in it, for a thousand Years. In the mean time we may observe from this Form and Posture of the ante-diluvian Abyss, how suitable it is and coherent with that Form of the ante-diluvian Earth which St. Peter and the Psalmist had described, sustained by the Waters; founded upon the Waters; stretched above the Waters; for if it was the Cover of this Abyss (and it had some Cover that was broke at the Deluge) it was spread as a Crust of Ice upon the Face of those Waters, and so made an Orbis Terrarum, an habitable Sphere of Earth about the Abyss.

So much for the Form of the ante-diluvian Earth and Abyss; which as they aptly correspond to one another, so, you see, our Theory answers, and is adjusted to both; and, I think, so fitly, that we have no reason hitherto to be displeased with the Success we have had in the Examination of it, according to Scripture. We have dispatch’d the two main Points in Question, first, to prove a Diversity in general betwixt the two natural Worlds, or betwixt the Heavens and the Earth before and after the Flood. Secondly, to prove wherein this Diversity consisted; or that the particular Form of the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth was such according to Scripture, as we have describ’d it in the Theory. You’ll say, then the Work is done; what needs more, all the rest follows of Course? For if the ante-diluvian Earth had such a Form as we have propos’d and prov’d it to have had, there could be no Deluge in it but by a Dissolution of its Parts and exterior Frame: And a Deluge so made, would not be in the Nature of a Standing-Pool, but of a violent Agitation and Commotion of the Waters. This is true; these Parts of the Theory are so cemented, that you must grant all, if you grant any. However we will try, if even these two Particulars also may be prov’d out of Scripture; that is, if there be any Marks or Memorandums left there by the Spirit of God, of such a Fraction or Dissolution of the Earth at the Deluge; and also such Characters of the Deluge it self, as shew it to have been by a Fluctuation and impetuous Commotion of the Waters.

To proceed then; that there was a Fraction or Dissolution of the Earth at the Deluge, the History of it by Moses gives us the first Account, seeing he tells us, as the principal Cause of the Flood, that the Fountains of the great Abyss were cloven or burst asunder; and upon this Disruption the Waters gush’d out from the Bowels of the Earth, as from the widen’d Mouths of so many Fountains. I do not take Fountains there to signify any more than Sources or Stores of Water; noting also this Manner of their Eruption from below, or out of the Ground, as Fountains do. Accordingly in the Proverbs, (chap. iii. 20.) ’tis only said, the Abysses were broken open. I do not doubt, but this refers to the Deluge, as Bede, and others understand it; the very Word being us’d here, both in the Hebrew and Septuagint, נבקעו ἐῤῤάγησαν that express the Disruption of the Abyss at the Deluge.

And this breaking up of the Earth at that Time, is elegantly exprest in Job, by the bursting of the Womb of Nature, when the Sea was first brought to Light; ch. xxxviii. when after many Pangs and Throws and Dilacerations of her Body, Nature was delivered of a Burthen, which she had born in her Womb sixteen hundred Years.

These three Places I take to be Memorials and Proofs of the Disruption of the Earth, or of the Abyss, at the universal Deluge. And to these we may add more out of the Prophets, Job, and the Psalms, by Way of Allusion commonly to the State of Nature at that Time. The Prophet Isaiah, in describing the future Destruction of the World, chap. xxiv. 18, 19. seems plainly to allude and have respect to the past Destruction of it at the Deluge; as appears by that leading Expression, the Windows from on high are open, ארבות סמיום נפתחו θυρίδες ἐκ τῷ οὐρανῶ ἠνεώχθησαν, taken manifestly from Gen. vii. 11. Then see how the Description goes on; the Windows from on high are open, and the Foundations of the Earth do shake, the Earth is utterly broken down, the Earth is quite dissolved, the Earth is exceedingly moved. Here are Concussions, and Fractions, and Dissolutions, as there were in the mundane Earthquake and Deluge; which we had exprest before only by breaking open the Abyss. By the Foundations of the Earth here and elsewhere, I perceive many understand the Center; so by moving or shaking the Foundations, or putting them out of Course, must be understood a displacing of the Center; which was really done at the deluge, as we have shewn in its proper Place, Theor. Book ii. Chap. 3. If we therefore remember, that there was both a Dislocation, as I may so say, and a Fraction in the Body of the Earth, by that great Fall; a Dislocation as to the Center, and a Fraction as to the Surface and exterior Region, it will truly answer to all those Expressions in the Prophet, that seem so strange and extraordinary. ’Tis true, this Place of the Prophet respects also and foretels the future Destruction of the World; but that being by Fire, when the Elements shall melt with fervent Heat, and the Earth with the Works therein shall be burnt up, these Expressions of Fractions and Concussions, seem to be taken originally from the Manner of the World’s first distruction, and to be transferr’d, by way of Application, to represent and signify the second Destruction of it, though, it may be, not with the same Exactness and Propriety.

There are several other Places that refer to the Dissolution and Subversion of the Earth at the Deluge, Amos ix. 5, 6. The Lord of Hosts is he, that toucheth the Earth, and it shall melt, or be dissolv’d.——and it shall rise up wholly like a Flood, and shall be drowned as by the Flood of Ægypt. By this and by the next verse the Prophet seems to allude to the Deluge, and to the Dissolution of the Earth that was then. This in Job seems to be called breaking down the Earth, and overturning the Earth, chap. xii. 14, 15. Behold he breaketh down and it cannot be built again, He shutteth upon Man, and there can be no opening. Behold, he with-holdeth the Waters, and they dry up; also he sendeth them out, and they overturn the Earth: Which Place you may see paraphras’d, Theo. Book i. p. 124, 125. We have already cited, and shall hereafter cite, other Places out of Job; and as that ancient Author (who is thought to have liv’d before the Judaical Oeconomy, and nearer to Noah than Moses) seems to have had the Præcepta Noachidarum, so also he seems to have had the Dogmata Noachidarum; which were deliver’d by Noah to his Children and Posterity, concerning the Mysteries of natural Providence, the Origin and Fate of the World, the Deluge and ante-diluvian State, &c. and accordingly we find many Strictures of these Doctrines in the Book of Job. Lastly, In the Psalms there are Texts that mention the shaking of the Earth, and the Foundations of the World, in reference to the Flood, if we judge aright; whereof we will speak under the next Head, concerning the raging of the Waters in the Deluge.

These Places of Scripture may be noted, as left us to be Remembrancers of that general Ruin and Disruption of the Earth at the Time of the Deluge. But I know it will be said of them, that they are not strict Proofs, but Allusions only: Be it so; yet what is the Ground of those Allusions? Something must be alluded, and something that hath past in Nature, and that is recorded in Sacred History; and what is that, unless it be the universal Deluge, and that Change and Disturbance that was then in all Nature? If others say, that these and such like Places are to be understood morally and allegorically, I do not envy them their Interpretation; but when Nature and Reason will bear a literal Sense, the Rule is, that we should not recede from the Letter. But I leave these Things to every one’s Thoughts; which the more calm they are, and the more impartial, the more easily they will feel the Impressions of Truth: In the mean Time, I proceed to the last particular mention’d, The Form of the Deluge it self.

This we suppose to have been, not in the Way of a standing Pool, the Waters making an equal Surface, and an equal Height every where; but that the extream Height of the Waters was made by the extream Agitation of them; caus’d by the Weight and Force of great Masses or Regions of Earth falling at once into the Abyss; by which Means, as the Waters in some Places were press’d out, and thrown at an excessive Height into the Air, so they would also in certain Places gape, and lay bare even the Bottom of the Abyss; which would look as an open Grave ready to swallow up the Earth, and all it bore. Whilst the Ark, in the mean time, falling and rising by these Gulphs and Precipices, sometimes above Water, and sometimes under, was a true Type of the State of the Church in this World: And to this Time and State David alludes in the Name of the Church, Psalm. xlii. 7. Abyss calls unto Abyss at the Noise of thy Cataracts or Water-Spouts; all thy Water and Billows have gone over me. And again, Psal. xlvi. 2, 3. in the Name of the Church, Therefore will not we fear tho’ the Earth be removed, and tho’ the Mountains be carried into the midst of the Seas. The Waters thereof roar and are troubled, the Mountains shake with the swelling thereof.

But there is no Description more remarkable or more eloquent, than of that Scene of Things represented, Psalm. xviii. 7, 8, 9, &c. which still alludes, in my Opinion, to the Deluge-Scene, and in the Name of the Church. We will set down the Words at large.

Ver. 6. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and cryed unto my God; He heard my Voice out of his Temple, and my Cry came before him into his Ears.

7. Then the Earth shook and trembled, the Foundations also of the Hills moved and were shaken, because he was wroth.

8. There went up a Smoak from his Nostrils, and Fire out of his Mouth devoured; Coals were kindled by it.

9. He bowed the Heavens also and came down, and Darkness was under his Feet.

10. And he rode upon a Cherub and did fly, he did fly upon the Wings of the Wind.

11. He made Darkness his secret Place; his Pavilion round about him was dark Waters and thick Clouds of the Sky.

12. At the Brightness before him the thick Clouds passed, Hail and Coals of Fire.

13. The Lord also thunder’d in the Heavens, and the Highest gave his Voice, Hail and Coals of Fire.

14. Yea, he sent out his Arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out Lightnings and discomfited them.

15. Then the Channels of Waters were seen, and the Foundations of the World were discovered; at thy rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the Breath of thy Nostrils.

He sent from above, he took me; he drew me out of great Waters. מים רבים

This is a rough, I think, Draught of the Face of the Heavens and the Earth at the Deluge, as the last Verses do intimate; and ’tis apply’d to express the Dangers and Deliverances of the Church: The Expressions are so far too high to be apply’d to David in his Person, and to his Deliverance from Saul; no such Agonies or Disorders of Nature as are here instanc’d, were made in David’s Time, or upon his Account; but ’tis a Scheme of the Church, and of her Fate, particularly, as represented by the Ark, in that dismal Distress, when all Nature was in Confusion. And though there may be some Things here intermixt to make up the Scene, that are not so close to the Subject as the rest, or that they may be refer’d to the future Destruction of the World; yet that is not unusual, nor amiss, in such Descriptions, if the great Strokes be fit and rightly placed. That there was Smoak, and Fire, and Water, and Thunder, and Darkness, and Winds, and Earthquakes, at the Deluge, we cannot doubt, if we consider the Circumstances of it: Waters dash’d and broken made a Smoak and Darkness, and no Hurricane could be so violent as the Motions of the Air at that Time: Then the Earth was torn in pieces, and its Foundations shaken. And as to Thunder and Lightning, the Encounters and Collisions of the mighty Waves, and the Cracks of a falling World, would make Flashes and Noises, far greater and more terrible, than any that can come from Vapours and Clouds. There was an universal^[12] Tempest, a Conflict and Clashing of all the Elements; and David seems to have represented it so; with God Almighty in the midst of it, ruling them all.

But I am apt to think, some will say, all this is Poetical in the Prophet, and these are hyperbolical and figurative Expressions, from which we cannot make any Inference, as to the Deluge and the natural World: ’Tis true, those that have no Idea of the Deluge, that will answer to such a Scene of things, as is here represented, must give such a slight Account of this Psalm. But on the other hand, if we have already an Idea of the Deluge, that is rational, and also consonant to Scripture upon other Proofs, and the Description here made by the Prophet answer to that Idea, whether then is it not more reasonable to think, that it stands upon that Ground, than to think it a mere Fancy and poetical Scene of Things? This is the true State of the Case, and that which we must judge of. Methinks ’tis very harsh to suppose all this a bare Fiction, grounded upon no matter of Fact, upon no sacred Story, upon no Appearance of God in Nature. If you say it hath a moral Signification, so let it have, we do not destroy that: It hath reference, no doubt, to the Dangers and Deliverances of the Church; but the Question is, whether the Words and natural Sense be a Fancy only, a Bundle of random Hyperboles? or, whether they relate to the History of the Deluge, and the State of the Ark there representing the Church? This makes the Sense doubly rich, Historically and Morally; and grounds it upon Scripture and Reason, as well as upon Fancy.

That violent Eruption of the Sea out of the Womb of the Earth, which Job speaks of, is, in my Judgment, another Description of the Deluge; ’tis ch. xxxviii. 8, 9, 10, 11. Who shut up the Sea with Doors, when it broke forth, as if it had issued out of a womb; when I made the Cloud the Garment thereof, and thick Darkness a swadling Band for it. And broke up for it my decreed Place.——Hitherto shalt thou come, &c. Here you may see the Birth and Nativity of the Sea, or of Oceanus, describ’d^[13], how he broke out of the Womb, and what his first Garment and Swadling-Cloaths were; namely, Clouds and thick Darkness. This cannot refer to any thing, that I know of, but to the Face of Nature at the Deluge; when the Sea was born, and wrapt up in Clouds and broken Waves, and a dark impenetrable Mist round the Body of the Earth. And this seems to be the very same, that David had express’d in his Description of the Deluge, Psal. xviii. 11. He made Darkness his secret Place, his Pavilion round about him were dark Waters and thick Clouds of the Skies. For this was truly the Face of the World in the Time of the Flood, tho’ we little reflect upon it. And this dark Confusion every where, above and below, arose from the violent and confus’d Motion of the Abyss; which was dash’d in pieces by the falling Earth; and flew into the Air in misty Drops, as Dust flies up in a great Ruin. [See Theor. Book i. p. 136.]

But I am afraid, we have stay’d too long upon this Particular, The Form of the Deluge; seeing ’tis but a Corollary from the precedent Article about the Dissolution of the Earth. However, Time is not ill spent about any thing that relates to natural Providence, whereof the two most signal Instances in our sacred Writings, are, the Deluge and the Conflagration. And seeing Job and David do often reflect upon the Works of God in the external Creation, and upon the Administrations of Providence, it cannot be imagin’d, that they should never reflect upon the Deluge; the most remarkable Change of Nature that ever hath been, and the most remarkable Judgment upon Mankind. And if they have reflected upon it any where, ’tis, I think, in those Places and those Instances, which I have noted; and if those Places do relate to the Deluge, they are not capable, in my Judgment, of any fairer or more natural Interpretation, than that which we have given them; which you see, how much it favours and confirms our Theory.

I have now finished the Heads I undertook to prove, that I might shew our Theory to agree with Scripture in these three principal Points; first, in that it supposeth a Diversity and Difference betwixt the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth, and the present Heavens and Earth: Secondly, in assigning the particular Form of the ante-diluvian Earth and Abyss; Thirdly, in explaining the Deluge by a Dissolution of that Earth, and an Eruption of the Abyss. How far I have succeeded in this Attempt, as to others, I cannot tell; but I am sure I have convinced my self, and am satisfied that my Thoughts, in that Theory, have run in the same Tract with the Holy Writings, with the true Intent and Spirit of them. There are some Persons that are wilfully ignorant in certain things, and others that are willing to be ignorant, as the Apostle phraseth it; speaking of those Eternalists that denied the Doctrine of the Change and Revolutions of the natural World: And ’tis not to be expected but there are many still of the same Humour, and therefore may be called willingly ignorant; that is, they will not use that Pains and Attention that is necessary for the Examination of such a Doctrine, nor Impartiality in judging after Examination; they greedily lay hold on all Evidence on one side, and willingly forget, or slightly pass over, all Evidence for the other. This, I think, is the Character of those that are willingly ignorant; for I do not take it to be so deep as a downright wilful Ignorance, where they are plainly conscious to themselves of that Wilfulness: but where an insensible Mixture of human Passions inclines them one Way, and makes them averse to the other; and in that Method draws on all the Consequences of a willing Ignorance.

There remains still, as I remember, one Proposition that I am bound to make good; I said, at first, that our Hypothesis concerning the Deluge was more agreeable not only to Scripture in general, but also to the particular History of the Flood left us by Moses; I say, more agreeable to it than any other Hypothesis, that hath yet been propos’d. This may be made good in a few Words; for in Moses’s History of the Deluge, there are two principal Points, the Extent of the Deluge, and the Causes of it; and in both these we do fully agree with that sacred Author. As to the Extent of it, he makes the Deluge universal; All the high Hills under the whole Heaven were cover’d fifteen Cubits upwards. We also make it universal, over the Face of the whole Earth; and in such a Manner as must needs raise the Waters above the Top of the highest Hills every where. As to the Causes of it, Moses makes them to be the Disruption of the Abyss, and the Rains, and no more; and in this also we exactly agree with him; we know no other Causes, nor pretend to any other but those two. Distinguishing therefore Moses his Narration as to the Substance and Circumstances of it, it must be allowed that these two Points make the Substance of it, and that an Hypothesis that differs from it in either of these two, differs from it more than ours; which, at the worst, can but differ in Matter of Circumstance. Now seeing the great Difficulty about the Deluge is the Quantity of Water required for it, there have been two Explications proposed, besides ours, to remove or satisfy this Difficulty; one whereof makes the Deluge not to have been universal, or to have reach’d only Judea and some neighbouring Countries, and therefore less Water would suffice; the other owning the Deluge to be universal, supplies it self with Water from the divine Omnipotency, and says new Waters were created then for the nonce, and again annihilated, when the Deluge was to cease. Both these Explications, you see, (and I know no more of Note that are not obnoxious to the same Exceptions) differ from Moses in the Substance, or in one of the two substantial Points, and consequently more than ours doth. The first changeth the Flood into a kind of National Inundation; and the second assigns other Causes of it than Moses had assign’d; And as they both differ apparently from the Mosaical History, so you may see them refuted upon other Grounds also, in the third Chapter of the first Book of the Theory.

This may be sufficient as to the History of the Flood by Moses: But possibly it may be said, the principal Objection will arise from Moses his six Days Creation in the first Chapter of Genesis; where another sort of Earth, than what we have form’d from the Chaos, is represented to us; namely, a terraqueous Globe such as our Earth is at present. ’Tis indeed very apparent, that Moses hath accommodated his six Days Creation to the present Form of the Earth, or to that which was before the Eyes of the People, when he wrote. But it is a great Question whether that was ever intended for a true Physical Account of the Origin of the Earth; or whether Moses did either Philosophize or Astronomize in that Description. The antient fathers, when they answer the Heathens, and the Adversaries of Christianity, do generally deny it; as I am ready to make good upon another Occasion. And the Thing it self bears in it evident Marks of an Accommodation and Condescension to the vulgar Notions concerning the Form of the World: Those that think otherwise, and would make it literally and physically true in all the Parts of it, I desire them, without entring upon the strict Merits of the Cause, to determine these Preliminaries. First, whether the whole Universe rise from a terrestrial Chaos? Secondly, what System of a World this six Days Creation proceeds upon; whether it supposes the Earth, or the Sun, for the Center? Thirdly, whether the Sun and fix’d Stars are of a later Date, and a later Birth, than this Globe of Earth? And lastly, where is the Region of the Super-celestial Waters? When they have determin’d these Fundamentals, we will proceed to other Observations upon the six Days Work, which will farther assure us, that ’tis a Narration suited to the Capacity of the People, and not to the strict and physical Nature of Things. Besides, we are to remember, that Moses must be so interpreted in the first Chapter of Genesis, as not to interfere with himself in other Parts of his History; nor to interfere with St. Peter, or the Prophet David, or any other sacred Authors, when they treat of the same Matter. Nor lastly, so, as to be repugnant to clear and uncontested Science. For, in things that concern the natural World, that must always be consulted.

With these Precautions, let them try if they can reduce that Narrative of the Origin of the World, to physical Truth; so as to be consistent, both with Nature, and with Divine Revelation every where. It is easily reconcileable to both, if we suppose it wrote in a vulgar Style, and to the Conceptions of the People; and we cannot deny that a vulgar Style is often made use of in the holy Writings. How freely and unconcernedly does Scripture speak of God Almighty, according to the Opinions of the Vulgar? Of his Passions, local Motions, Parts and Members of his Body: Which all are things that do not belong, or are not compatible with the Divine Nature, according to Truth and Science. And if this Liberty be taken, as to God himself, much more may it be taken as to his Works. And accordingly we see, what Motion the Scripture gives to the Sun; what Figure to the Earth; what Figure to the Heavens: All according to the Appearance of Sense and popular Credulity without any Remorse for having transgressed the Rules of intellectual Truth.

This vulgar Style of Scripture, in describing the Nature of Things, hath been often mistaken for the real Sense, and so become a Stumbling-Block in the Way of Truth. Thus the Anthropomorphites of old contended for the human Shape of God, from the Letter of Scripture, and brought many express Texts for their purpose; but sound Reason, at length, got the upper hand of literal Authority. Then several of the Christian Fathers contended, that there were no Antipodes; and made that Doctrine irreconcilable to Scripture; But this also, after a while, went off, and yeilded to Reason and Experience. Then, the Motion of the Earth must by no means be allow’d, as being contrary to Scripture; for so it is indeed, according to the Letter and vulgar Style. But all intelligent Persons see thorough this Argument, and depend upon it no more in this Case, than in the former. Lastly, the Original of the Earth from a Chaos, drawn according to the Rules of Phisiology, will not be admitted; because it does not agree with the Scheme of the six Days Creation. But why may not this be wrote in a vulgar Style, as well as the rest? Certainly there can be nothing more like a vulgar Style, than to set God to work by the Day, and in six Days to finish his Task; as he is there represented. We may therefore probably hope that all these Disguises of Truth will at length fall off, and that we shall see God and his Works in a pure and naked Light.

Thus I have finished what I had to say in Confirmation of this Theory from Scripture; I mean of the former Part of it, which depends chiefly upon the Deluge, and the ante-diluvian Earth. When you have collated the Places of Scripture, on either side, and laid them in the Balance, to be weigh’d one against another; if you do but find them equal, or near to an equal Poise, you know in whether Scale the natural Reasons are to be laid; and of what Weight they ought to be in an Argument of this kind. There is a great Difference betwixt Scripture with Philosophy on its side, and Scripture with Philosophy against it, when the Question is concerning the natural World: And this is our Case; which I now leave to the Consideration of the unprejudic’d Reader, and proceed to the Proof of the second Part of the Theory.

The latter Part consists of the Conflagration of the World, and the new Heavens and new Earth; and seeing there is no Dispute concerning the former of these two, our Task will now lie in a little Compass; being only this, to prove that there will be new Heavens, and a new Earth, after the Conflagration. This, to my Mind, is sufficiently done already, in the first, second and third Chapters of the ivth book, both from Scripture and Antiquity, whether Sacred or Prophane; and therefore, at present, we will only make a short and easy Review of Scripture-Testimonies, with design chiefly to obviate and disappoint the Evasions of such, as would beat down solid Texts into thin Metaphors and Allegories.

The Testimonies of Scripture concerning the Renovation of the World, are either express, or implicit: Those I call express, that mention the new Heavens and new Earth; and those implicit, that signify the same Thing, but not in express Terms. So when our Saviour speaks of a Palingenesia, or Regeneration; (Matt. xix. 28, 29.) or St Peter, of an Apocatastasis or Restitution; (Acts iii. 21.) these being Words used by all Authors, Prophane or Ecclesiastical, for the Renovation of the World, ought, in reason, to be interpreted in the same Sense in the Holy Writings. And in like Manner, when St. Paul speaks of his future Earth, or an habitable World to come, Hebr. ii. 5. ἡ οἰκουμένη ἡ μέλλουσα or of a Redemption or Melioration of the present State of Nature, Rom. iii. 21, 22. these lead us again, in other Terms, to the same Renovation of the World. But there are also some Places of Scripture, that set the new Heavens and new Earth in such a full and open View, that we must shut our Eyes not to see them. St. John says, he saw them, and observed the Form of the new Earth, Apoc. xxi. 1. Isa. lxv. 17. The Seer Isaiah spoke of them in express Words, many hundred Years before. And St. Peter marks the Time when they are to be introduc’d, namely, after the Conflagration, or after the Dissolution of the present Heavens and Earth, 2 Pet. iii. 12, 13.

These later Texts of Scripture being so express, there is but one Way left to elude the Force of them; and that is, by turning the Renovation of the World into an Allegory; and making the new Heavens and new Earth to be allegorical Heavens and Earth, not real and material, as ours are. This is a bold Attempt of some modern Authors, who chuse rather to strain the Word of God, than their own Notions. There are Allegories, no doubt, in Scripture, but we are not to allegorize Scripture without some Warrant; either from an Apostolical Interpretation, or from the Necessity of the Matter; and I do not know how they can pretend to either of these, in this Case. However, that they may have all fair Play, we will lay aside, at present, all the other Texts of Scripture, and confine our selves wholly to St. Peter’s Words; to see and examine whether they are, or can be turn’d into an Allegory, according to the best Rules of Interpretation.

St. Peter’s Words are these, 2 Pet. iii. 11, 12, 13. Seeing then all these Things shall be dissolved, what manner of Persons ought ye to be in all holy Conversation and Godliness? Looking for, and hasting the Coming of the Day of God; wherein the Heavens being on Fire shall be dissolved, and the Elements shall melt with fervent Heat. Nevertheless we, according to his Promise, look for new Heavens and a new Earth; wherein Righteousness shall dwell. The Question is concerning this last Verse, Whether the new Heavens and Earth here promis’d, are to be real and material Heavens and Earth, or only figurative and allegorical. The Words, you see, are clear; and the general Rule of Interpretation is this, That we are not to recede from the Letter, or the literal Sense, unless there be a Necessity from the Subject-matter; such a Necessity, as makes a literal Interpretation absurd. But where is that Necessity in this Case? Cannot God make new Heavens and a new Earth, as easily as he made the old ones? Is his Strength decayed since that Time, or is Matter grown more disobedient? Nay, does not Nature offer her self voluntarily to raise a new World from the second Chaos, as well as from the first; and, under the Conduct of Providence, to make it as convenient an Habitation as the primæval Earth? Therefore no Necessity can be pretended of leaving the litteral Sense, upon an Incapacity of the Subject-matter.

The second Rule to determine an Interpretation to be literal or allegorical, is the use of the same Words or Phrase in the Context, and the Signification of them there: Let’s then examine our Case according to this Rule. St. Peter had us’d the same Phrase of Heavens and Earth twice before in the same Chapter. The old Heavens and Earth, ver. 5. The present Heavens and Earth, ver. 7. and now he uses it again, ver. 13. the new Heavens and Earth. Have we not then Reason to suppose, that he takes it here in the same Sense, that he had done twice before, for real and material Heavens and Earth? There is no Mark set of a new Signification, nor why we should alter the Sense of the Words. That he used them always before for the material Heavens and Earth, I think none will question; and therefore, unless they can give us a sufficient Reason, why we should change the Signification of the Words, we are bound by this second Rule also, to understand them in a litteral Sense.

Lastly, The very Form of the Words, and the Manner of their Dependence upon the Context, leads us to a litteral Sense, and to material Heavens and Earth. Nevertheless, says the Apostle, we expect new Heavens, &c. Why Nevertheless! that is, notwithstanding the Dissolution of the present Heavens and Earth. The Apostle foresaw, what he had said might raise a Doubt in their Minds, whether all Things would not be at an End; nothing more of Heavens and Earth, or of any habitable World, after the Conflagration: And to obviate this, he tells them, Notwithstanding that wonderful Desolation that I have describ’d, we do, accordding to God’s Promises, expect new Heavens and a new Earth, to be an Habitation for the Righteous.

You see then the new Heavens and new Earth, which the Apostle speaks of, are substituted in the Place of those that were destroyed at the Conflagration; and would you substitute allegorical Heavens and Earth in the Place of Material? Shadow for a Substance? What an Equivocation would it be in the Apostle, when the Doubt was about the material Heavens and Earth, to make an Answer about allegorical. Lastly, The timing of the Thing determines the Sense: When shall this new World appear? after the Conflagration, the Apostle says: Therefore it cannot be understood of any moral Renovation, to be made at, or in the Times of the Gospel, as these Allegorists pretend. We must therefore, upon all Accounts, conclude that the Apostle intended a literal Sense; real and material Heavens, to succeed these after the Conflagration; which was the Thing to be prov’d. And I know not what Bars the Spirit of God can set, to keep us within the Compass of a literal Sense, if these be not sufficient.

Thus much for the Explication of St. Peter’s Doctrine concerning the new Heavens and new Earth; which secures the second Part of our Theory: For the Theory stands upon two Pillars, or two Pedestals, the ante-diluvian Earth and the future Earth; or in St. Peter’s Phrase, the old Heavens and Earth, and the new Heavens and Earth; and it cannot be shaken, so long as these two continue firm and immoveable. We might now put an End to this Review, but it may be expected possibly that we should say something concerning the Millennium? which we have, contrary to the general Sentiment of the modern Millennaries, plac’d in the future Earth. Our Opinion hath this Advantage above others, that all fanatical Pretensions to Power and Empire in this World, are, by these Means, blown away, as Chaff before the Wind. Princes need not fear to be dethroned, to make way to the Saints; nor Governments unhinged, that they may rule the World with a Rod of Iron. These are the Effects of the wild Enthusiasm; seeing the very State which they aim at, is not to be upon this Earth.

But that our Sense may not be mistaken or misapprehended in this Particular, as if we thought the Christian Church would never, upon this Earth, be in a better and happier Posture than it is in at present: We must distinguish betwixt a Melioration of the World, if you will allow that Word; and a Millennium. We do not deny a Reformation and Improvement of the Church, both as to Peace, Purity, and Piety: That Knowledge may increase, Mens Minds be enlarged, and Christian Religion better understood: That the Power of Antichrist shall be diminish’d, Persecution cease, Liberty of Conscience allow’d amongst the Reformed; and a greater Union and Harmony established: That Princes will mind the publick Good, more than they do now; and be themselves better Examples of Virtue and true Piety. All this may be, and I hope will be e’er long. But the apocalyptical Millennium, or the new Jerusalem, is still another Matter: It differs not in Degree only from the present State, but in a new Order of Things; both in the moral World and in the natural; and that cannot be till we come into the new Heavens and new Earth. Suppose what Reformation you can in this World, there will still remain many Things inconsistent with the true millennial State; Antichrist, tho’ weakned, will not be finally destroyed till the coming of our Saviour, nor Satan bound. And there will be always Poverty, Wars, Diseases, Knaves and Hypocrites, in this World, which are not consistent with the new Jerusalem, as St. John describes it, Apoc. xxi. 2, 3, 4, &c.

You see now what our Notion is of the Millennium, as we deny this Earth to be the Seat of it: ’Tis the State that succeeds the first Resurrection, when Satan is lock’d up in the bottomless Pit: The State when the Martyrs are to return into Life, and wherein they are to have the first Lot and chief Share: A State which is to last a thousand Years. And Blessed and Holy is he, that hath a Part in it; on such the second Death hath no Power; but they shall be Priests of God and Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand Years. If you would see more particular Reasons of our Judgment in this Case, why such a Millennium is not to be expected in this World; they are set down in the 8th Chap. of the 4th Book, and we do not think it necessary that they should be here repeated.

As to that Dissertion that follows the Millennium, and reaches to the Consummation of all Things seeing it is but problematical, we leave it to stand or fall by the Evidence already given; and should be very glad to see the Conjectures of others more learned, in Speculations so abstruse and remote from common Knowledge. They cannot surely be thought unworthy or unfit for our Meditations, seeing they are suggested to us by Scripture it self: And to what end were they propos’d to us there, if it was not intended, that they should be understood, sooner or later?

I have done with this Review; and shall only add one or two Reflections upon the whole Discourse, and so conclude. You have seen the State of the Theory of the Earth, as to the Matters, Form, and Proofs of it, both natural and sacred: If any one will substitute a better in its Place, I shall think my self more obliged to him, than if he had shewed me the Quadrature of the Circle. But it is not enough to pick Quarrels here and there; that may be done by any Writing, especially when it is of so great Extent and Comprehension: They must build up, as well as pull down; and give us another Theory instead of this, fitted to the same natural History of the Earth, according as it is set down in Scripture; and then let the World take their Choice. He that cuts down a Tree, is bound in Reason to plant two; because there is an Hazard in their Growth and Thriving.

Then as to those that are such rigorous Scripturists, as to require plainly demonstrative and irresistible Texts for every thing they entertain or believe; they would do well to reflect and consider, whether, for every Article in the three Creeds (which have no Support from natural Reason) they can bring such Texts of Scripture as they require of others; or a fairer and juster Evidence, all things consider’d, than we have done for the Substance of this Theory. We have not indeed said all that might be said, as to Antiquity; that making no part in this Review, and being capable still of great Additions. But as to Scripture and Reason I have no more to add: Those that are not satisfied with the Proofs already produc’d upon these two Heads, are under a Fate, good or bad, which is not in my Power to overcome. FINIS.