Chapter X: Book IV (1)

_Concerning the New Heavens and New Earth, AND Concerning the
Consummation of all Things._

CHAP. I.

_The Introduction; That the World will not be annihilated in the
last Fire: That we are to expect, according to Scripture and the
Christian Doctrine, new Heavens and a new Earth, when these are
dissolv’d or burnt up._

We are now so far advanc’d in the Theory of the Earth, as to have seen the End of two Worlds; one destroy’d by Water, and another by Fire. It remains only to consider, whether we be yet come to the final Period of Nature; the last Scene of all Things, and consequently the utmost Bound of our Enquires: Or, whether Providence, which is inexhausted in Wisdom and Goodness, will raise up, from this dead Mass, new Heavens and a new Earth; another habitable World, better and more perfect than that which was destroyed: That, as the first World began with a Paradise, and a State of Innocency; so the last may be a kind of Renovation of that happy State, whose Inhabitants shall not die, but be translated to a blessed Immortality.

I know ’tis the Opinion of some, that this World will be annihilated, or reduc’d to nothing, at the Conflagration, and that would put an End to all farther Enquiries. But whence do they learn this? From Scripture or Reason, or their own Imagination? What Instance or Example can they give us of this they call _Annihilation_? Or what Place of Scripture can they produce, that says, the World, in the last Fire, shall be reduc’d to nothing? If they have neither Instance nor Proof of what they affirm, ’tis an empty Imagination of their own, neither agreeable to Philosophy, nor Divinity: Fire does not consume any Substance; it changes the Form and Qualities of it, but the Matter remains. And if the Design had been _Annihilation_, the employing of Fire would have been of no Use or Effect: For Smoke and Ashes are at as great a Distance from _Nothing_, as the Bodies themselves out of which they are made. But these Authors seem to have but a small Tincture of Philosophy, and therefore it will be more proper to confute their Opinion from the Words of Scripture, which hath left us sufficient Evidence, that another World will succeed after the Conflagration of that we now inhabit.

The Prophets, both of the Old and New Testament, have left us their Predictions concerning _new Heavens and a new Earth_. So says the Prophet _Isaiah_, ch. lxv. 17. _Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth, and the former shall not be remembered, or come into Mind_; as not worthy our Thoughts, in comparison of those that will arise when these pass away. So the Prophet St. _John_ in his _Apocalypse_, when he was come to the End of this World, says, _And I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth: For the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away, and there was no more Sea, Apoc. xxi. 1._ Where he does not only give us an Account of a new Heaven and a new Earth in general; but also gives a distinctive Character of the _new Earth_, that it shall have _no Sea_. And in the _5th Verse_, he that sate upon the Throne says, _Behold I make all_ Things _new_: which, consider’d with the Antecedents and Consequents, cannot be otherwise understood than of a new World.

But some Men make Evasions here, as to the Words of the Prophets, and say, they are to be understood in a figurative and allegorical Sense; and to be apply’d to the Times of the Gospel, either at first or towards the latter End of the World; so as this _new Heaven and new Earth_, signify only a great Change in the moral World. But how can that be, seeing St. _John_ places them after the End of the World? And the Prophet _Isaiah_ connects such Things with his new Heavens and new Earth, as are not compatible to the present State of Nature, _ch. lxv._ However, to avoid all Shuffling and Tergiversation in this Point, let us appeal to St. _Peter_, who uses a plain literal Style, and discourses downright concerning the natural World. In his _2d Epist._ and _3d Chap._ when he had foretold and explain’d the future Conflagration, he adds, But we expect _new Heavens and a new Earth, according to his Promises_. These Promises were made by the Prophets; and this gives us full Authority to interpret their _new Heavens and new Earth_ to be after the _Conflagration_. St. _Peter_, when he had describ’d the Dissolution of the World in the last Fire, in full and emphatical Terms, as _the passing away the Heavens with a Noise; the melting of the Elements, and burning up all the Works of the Earth_; he subjoins, _Nevertheless_ (notwithstanding this total Dissolution of the present World) _we, according to his Promises, look for new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousness_. As if the Apostle should have said, Notwithstanding this strange and violent Dissolution of the present Heavens and Earth, which I have describ’d to you, we do not at all distrust God’s Promises, concerning new Heavens and a new Earth, that are to succeed these, and to be the Seat of the Righteous.

Here’s no room for Allegories, or allegorical Expositions, unless you will make the Conflagration of the World an Allegory: For, as Heavens and Earth were destroyed, so Heavens and Earth are restored; and if, in the first Place, you understand the natural material World, you must also understand it in the second Place; they are both Allegories, or neither. But to make the Conflagration an Allegory, is not only to contradict St. _Peter_, but all Antiquity, sacred or prophane. And I desire no more Assurance, that we shall have new Heavens and a new Earth, in a literal Sense, than we have that the present Heavens and Earth shall be destroyed in a literal Sense, and by material Fire: Let it therefore rest upon that Issue, as to the first Evidence and Argument from Scripture.

Some will fancy, it may be, that we shall have new Heavens and Earth, and yet that these shall be annihilated: They would have these first reduc’d to nothing, and then others created, spick and span new, out of nothing. But why so, pray, what’s the Humour of that? Lest Omnipotency should want Employment, you would have it to do, and undo, and do again; as if new-made Matter, like new Cloaths, or new Furniture, had a better Gloss, and was more credible. Matter never wears; as fine Gold, melt it down never so often, it loses nothing of its Quantity: The Substance of the World is the same, burnt or unburnt, and is of the same Value and Virtue, new or old; and we must not multiply the Actions of Omnipotency without Necessity. God does not make, or unmake things, to try Experiments: He knows beforehand the utmost Capacities of every thing, and does no vain or superfluous Work. Such Imaginations as these, proceed only from want of true Philosophy, or the true Knowledge of the Nature of God and of his Works, which should always be carefully attended to in such Speculations as concern the natural World. But to proceed in our Subject.

If they suppose Part of the World to be annihilated, and to continue so, they philosophize still worse and worse: How high shall the Annihilation reach? Shall the Sun, Moon, and Stars be reduc’d to nothing? But what have they done, that they should undergo so hard a Fate? Must they be turn’d out of Being for our Faults? The whole material Universe will not be annihilated at this Bout, for we are to have Bodies after the Resurrection, and to live in Heaven. How much of the Universe then will you leave standing? or how shall it subsist with this great _Vacuum_ in the Heart of it? This Shell of a World is but the Fiction of an empty Brain; for God and Nature, in their Works, never admit of such gaping Vacuities and Emptinesses.

If we consult Scripture again, we shall find that that makes mention of a _Restitution_ and _Reviviscency_ of all Things, at the End of the World, or at the Coming of our Saviour. St. _Peter_, whose Doctrine we have hitherto follow’d, in his Sermon to the _Jews_, after our Saviour’s Ascension, tells them, that he will come again, and that there will be then a _Restitution of all Things_, such as was promised by the Prophets. _The Heavens_, says he, _must receive him until the Time of Restitution of all Things; which God hath spoken by the Mouth of his holy Prophets, since the World began, Acts iii. 21._ If we compare this Passage of Saint _Peter’s_, with that which we alledged before, out of his Second Epistle, it can scarce be doubted but that he refers to the same Promises in both Places; and what he there calls a _new Heaven_, and a _new Earth_, he calls here a _Restitution of all Things_: For the Heavens and the Earth comprehend all, and both these are but different Phrases for the Renovation of the World. This gives us also Light how to understand what our Saviour calls the _Regeneration_ or _Reviviscency_, when he shall sit upon his Throne of Glory, and will reward his Followers an hundred-fold, for all their Losses in this World, besides everlasting Life, as the Crown of all, _Mat. xix. 28, 29._ I know, in our _English_ Translation, we separate _the Regeneration_ from _sitting upon his Throne_, but without any Warrant from the Original. And seeing our Saviour speaks here of bodily Goods, and seems to distinguish them from _everlasting Life_, which is to be the final Reward of his Followers; this _Regeneration_ seems to belong to his Second Coming, when the World shall be renew’d or regenerated, and the Righteous shall possess the Earth.

Other Places of Scripture that foretel the Fate of this material World, represent it always as a _Change_, not as an _Annihilation_. St. _Paul_ says, _The Figure of this World passeth away, 1 Cor. vii. 31._ The Form, Fashion, and Disposition of its Parts, but the Substance still remains: As a Body that is melted down and dissolv’d, the Form perishes, but the Matter is not destroyed. And the Psalmist says, the Heavens and the Earth shall be _chang’d_, _Psal. cii. 26._ which answers to this Transformation we speak of. The same Apostle, in the eighth Chapter to the _Romans_, ver. 21, 22, 23, 24. shews also, that this _Change_ shall be, and shall be for the better, and calls it a _Deliverance of the Creation from Vanity and Corruption_, and a Participation of the _glorious Liberty of the Children of God_; being a sort of _Redemption_, as they have a _Redemption of their Bodies_.

But seeing the _Renovation_ of the World is a Doctrine generally receiv’d, both by antient and modern Authors, as we shall have Occasion to shew hereafter, we need add no more, in this Place, for Confirmation of it. Some Men are willing to throw all Things into a State of _Nothing_ at the Conflagration, and bury them there, that they may not be oblig’d to give an Account of that State of things that is to succeed it. Those who think themselves bound in Honour to know every thing in Theology that is knowable, and find it uneasy to answer such Questions and Speculations as would arise upon their admitting a new World, think it more advisable to stifle it in the Birth, and so to bound all Knowledge at the Conflagration. But surely so far as Reason or Scripture lead us, we may and ought to follow, otherwise we should be ungrateful to Providence, that sent us those Guides, provided we be always duly sensible of our own Weakness: And, according to the Difficulty of the Subject, and the Measure of Light that falls upon it, proceed with that Modesty and Ingenuity, that becomes such fallible Enquirers after Truth, as we are. And this Rule I desire to prescribe to my self, as in all other Writings, so especially in this; where, though I look upon the principal Conclusions as fully prov’d, there are several Particulars, that are rather propos’d to Examination, than positively asserted.

CHAP. II.

_The Birth of the new Heavens and the new Earth, from the second
Chaos, or the Remains of the old World: The Form, Order, and
Qualities of the new Earth, according to Reason and Scripture._

Having prov’d from Scripture, that we are to expect _new Heavens_, and a _new Earth_, after the Conflagration; it would be some Pleasure and Satisfaction to see how this new Frame will arise, and what Foundation there is in Nature for the Accomplishment of these Promises. For, though the Divine Power be not bound to all the Laws of Nature, but may dispense with them when there is a Necessity; yet it is an Ease to us in our Belief, when we see them both conspire in the same Effect. And in order to this, we must consider in what Posture we left the demolish’d World, what Hopes there are of a Restauration. And we are not to be discourag’d, because we see Things at present wrapt up in a confus’d Mass; for, according to the Methods of Nature and Providence, in that dark Womb usually are the Seeds and Rudiments of an Embryo-World.

Neither is there, possibly, so great a Confusion, in this Mass, as we imagine: The Heart, an interior Body of the Earth, is still entire; and that Part of it that is consum’d by the Fire, will be divided, of its own accord, into two Regions. What is dissolv’d and melted, being the heaviest, will descend as low as it can, and cover and inclose the Kernel of the Earth round about, as a molten Sea or Abyss; according as it is explain’d and set down in the precedent Book. But what is more light and volatile, will float in the Air; as Fumes, Smoke, Exhalations, Vapours of Water, and whatsoever terrestrial Parts can be elevated and supported by the Strength of Fire. These, all mingled together, of different Sizes, Figures, and Motions, will constitute an opake Cloud, or thick Region of Darkness round the Earth; so as the Globe of the Earth, with its Atmosphere, after the Conflagration is finished, will stand much-what in the Form represented in this Scheme.

Now as to the lower of these two Regions, the Region of melted Matter, A. A. we shall have little Occasion to take Notice of it; seeing it will contribute nothing to the Formation of the new World. But the upper Region, or all above that Orb of Fire, is the true Draught of a Chaos; or a Mixture and Confusion of all the Elements, without Order or Distinction. Here are Particles of Earth, and of Air, and of Water, all promiscuously jumbled together by the Force and Agitation of the Fire. But when that Force ceases, and every one is left to its own Inclination, they will, according to their different degrees of Gravity, separate and sort themselves after this manner: First, the heaviest and grossest Parts of the Earth will subside, then the watery Parts will follow; then a lighter sort of Earth, which will stop, and rest upon the Surface of the Water, and compose there a thin Film or Membrane. This Membrane or tender Orb is the first Rudiment, or Foundation of a new habitable Earth: For, according as terrestrial Parts fall upon it, from all the Regions and Heights of the Atmosphere, or of the Chaos, this Orb will grow more firm, strong, and immoveable, able to support it self and Inhabitants too. And having in it all the Principles of a fruitful Soil, whether for the Production of Plants, or of Animals, it will want no Property or Character of an habitable Earth. And particularly, will become such an Earth, and of such a Form, as the first paradisaical Earth was, which hath been fully describ’d, in the first and second Books of this Theory.

There is no occasion of examining more accurately the Formation of this second Earth, seeing it is so much the same with that of the first; which, is set down fully and distinctly, in the fifth Chapter of the first Book of this Theory. Nature here repeats the same Work, and in the same Method; only the Materials are now a little more refin’d, and purg’d by the Fire: They both rise out of a Chaos, and that, in effect, the same in both Cases; for though in forming the first Earth, I suppos’d the Chaos or confus’d Mass, to reach down to the Center, I did that only for the Ease of our Imagination; that so the whole Mass might appear more simple and uniform. But in reality, that Chaos had a solid Kernel of Earth within, as this hath; and that Matter which fluctuated above in the Regions of the Air, was the true Chaos, whose Parts, when they came to a Separation, made the several Elements, and the Form of an habitable Earth, betwixt the Air and Water. This Chaos, upon Separation, will fall into the same Form and Elements; and so, in like manner, create or constitute a second _Paradisaical_ World.

I say, a _Paradisaical_ World; for it appears plainly, that this new-form’d Earth must agree with that primigenial Earth, in the two principal and fundamental Properties. First, it is of an even, entire, uniform, and regular Surface, without Mountains or Sea. Secondly, that it hath a straight and regular Situation to the Sun, and the _Axis_ of the _Ecliptick_. From the Manner of its Formation, it appears manifestly, that it must be of an even and regular Surface. For the Orb of liquid Fire, upon which the first Descent was made, being smooth and uniform every where, the Matter that fell upon it would take the same Form and Mould: And so the second or third Region, that were superinduc’d, would still imitate the Fashion of the first; there being no Cause or Occasion of any Inequality. Then as to the Situation of its _Axis_, this Uniformity of Figure would determine the Center of its Gravity to be exactly in the Middle, and consequently there would be no Inclination of one Pole, more than another, to the general Center of its Motion; but, upon a free Libration in the liquid Air, its _Axis_ would lie parallel with the _Axis_ of the Ecliptick where it moves. But these Things having been deduc’d more fully in the second Book about _Paradise_ and the _primigenial Earth_, they need no further Explication in this Place.

If Scripture had left us several distinct Characters of the _New Heavens_, and the _New Earth_, we might, by comparing with those, have made a full Proof of our Hypothesis. One indeed St. _John_ hath left us in very express Terms; _There was no Sea there_, he says: His Words are these: _And I saw a New Heaven, and a New Earth; for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passed away; AND THERE WAS NO MORE SEA_. This Character is very particular, and you see it exactly answers to our Hypothesis; for in the new form’d Earth, the Sea is cover’d and inconspicuous, being an Abyss; not a Sea; and wholly lodg’d in the Womb of the Earth. And this one Character, being inexplicable upon any other Supposition, and very different from the present Earth, makes it a strong Presumption that we have hit upon the true Model of the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_ which St. _John_ saw.

To this Sight of the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_, St. _John_ immediately subjoins the Sight of the _new Jerusalem_, _ver._ 2. as being contemporary, and, in some respects, the same Thing. ’Tis true, the Characters of the _new Jerusalem_, in these two last Chapters of the _Apocalypse_, are very hard to be understood; some of them being incompatible to a _terrestrial_ State, and some of ’em to a _celestial_; so as it seems to me very reasonable to suppose, that the _new Jerusalem_, spoken of by St. _John_, is two-fold: That which he saw himself, _ver._ 2. and that which the Angel shewed him afterwards, _ver._ 9. For I do not see what need there was of an _Angel_, and of _taking him up into a great and high Mountain_, only to shew him that which he had seen before, at the Foot of the Mountain: But however that be, we are to consider, in this Place, the terrestrial new _Jerusalem_ only, or that which is the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_. And as St. _John_ hath joined these two together, so the Prophet _Isaiah_ hath done the same thing before, _Chap._ lxv. 17, 18. when he had promised _new Heavens and a new Earth_, he calls them under another Name, _Jerusalem_; and they both use the same Character in Effect, in the Description of their _Jerusalem_. _Ver._ 19. _Isaiah_ says, _And I will rejoice in_ Jerusalem, _and joy in my People, and the Voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her_, _nor the Voice of crying_, _Apoc._ xxi. 3, 4. St. _John_ says also in his _Jerusalem_, _God shall dwell with them, and they shall be his People: And he shall wipe away all Tears from their Eyes; and there shall be no more Death, neither Sorrow, nor Crying, neither shall there be any more Pain._ Now in both these Prophets, when they treat upon this Subject, we find they make frequent Allusions to _Paradise_ and a _paradisaical_ State; so as they may be justly taken as a Scripture Character of the _new Heavens_ and the _new Earth_. The Prophet _Isaiah_ seems plainly to point at a _paradisaical_ State, throughout that Chapter, by an universal Innocency, and Harmlesness of Animals; and Peace, Plenty, Health, Longevity or Immortality of the Inhabitants. St. _John_ also hath several Allusions to _Paradise_, in those two Chapters where he describes the new _Jerusalem_, Ch. xxi. and Ch. xxii. And in his Discourse to the seven Churches, in one Place (Ch. ii. 7.) _To him that overcometh_ is promised, _to eat of the Tree of Life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God_. And in another Place (Ch. iii. 12.) _To him that overcometh_ is promised, _to have the Name of the new_ Jerusalem _writ upon him_. These I take to be the same Thing, and the same Reward of Christian Victors; the _new Jerusalem_, or the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_, and the _Paradise of God_. Now this being the general Character of the _new Earth_, that it is _paradisaical_; and the particular Character that it _hath no Sea_; and both these agreeing with our Hypothesis, as apparently deducible from those Principles, and that Manner of its Formation which we have set down; we cannot but allow, that the Holy Scriptures, and the natural Theory agree in their Testimony, as to the Conditions and Properties of the _New Heavens_ and _New Earth_.

From what hath been said in this and the precedent Chapter, it will not be hard to interpret what St. _Paul_ meant by his _habitable Earth to come_; Τὴν οἰκουμένην τῆς μέλλουσαν; πατὴρ τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος, _Isai. ix. 6._ which is to be subjected to our Saviour, and not to the Angels. In the second Chapter to the _Hebrews_, ver. 5. he says, _For unto the Angels hath he not put in Subjection the WORLD TO COME_; so we read it, but, according to the strictest and plainest Translation, it should be _the habitable Earth to come_. Now, what Earth is this, where our Saviour is absolute Sovereign; and where the Government is neither Human, nor Angelical, but peculiarly Theocratical? In the first Place, this cannot be the present World, or the present Earth, because the Apostle calls it _future_, or the _Earth to come_. Nor can it be understood of the Days of the Gospel; seeing the Apostle acknowledges, _ver._ 8. that this Subjection, whereof he speaks, is not yet made. And seeing Antichrist will not finally be destroyed till the Appearance of our Saviour, (_2 Thess. ii. 8._) nor Satan bound, while Antichrist is in Power; during the Reign of these two (who are the Rulers of the Darkness of the World) our Saviour cannot properly be said to begin his Reign here, _Ephes. vi. 12._ ’Tis true, he exercises his Providence over his Church, and secures it from being destroyed: He can, by a Power paramount, stop the Rage either of Satan or Antichrist; _Hitherto ye shall go, and no farther_. As sometimes when he was upon Earth, he exerted a Divine Power, which yet did not destroy his State of Humiliation; so he interposes now when he thinks fit, but he does not finally take the Power out of the Hands of his Enemies, nor out of the Hands of the Kings of the Earth. The _Kingdom is not deliver’d up to him_, and all _Dominion and Power_; Ch. vii. 13, 25, 26. That _all Tongues and Nations should serve him_. For St. _Paul_ can mean no less in this Place than that Kingdom in _Daniel_, _Heb. ii. 8._ seeing he calls it _putting all Things in Subjection under his Feet_, and says that it is not yet done. Upon this account also, as well as others, our Saviour might truly say to _Pilate_, _Joh. xviii. 36._ _My Kingdom is not of this World_. And to his Disciples, _The Son of Man came not to be ministred unto, but to minister_, _Matt. xx. 28._ When he comes to receive his Kingdom, he comes in the Clouds of Heaven (_Dan. vii. 13, 14._) not in the Womb of a Virgin. He comes with the Equipage of a King and Conqueror: with Thousands and Ten Thousands of Angels; not in the Form of a Servant, or of a weak Infant, as he did at his first coming.

I allow the Phrase αἰὼν μέλλων, or in the _Hebrew_ עולם הבא, _the World to come_, is sometimes used in a large Sense, as comprehending all the Days of the Messiah, whether at his first or second coming, (for these two comings are often undistinguished in Scripture) and respect the moral World, as well as the natural. But the Word οἰχομένη, _Orbis habitabilis_, which St. _Paul_ here uses, does primarily signify the natural World, or the habitable Earth, in the proper use of the Word amongst the _Greeks_, and frequently in Scripture, _Luke iv. 5._ and _xxi. 26._ _Rom. x. 18._ _Heb. i. 6._ _Apoc. iii. 10._ Neither do we here exclude the moral World, or the Inhabitants of the Earth, but rather necessarily include them: Both the natural and moral _World to come_, will be the Seat and Subject of our Saviour’s Kingdom and Empire, in a peculiar Manner. But when you understand nothing by this Phrase but the _present moral World_, it neither answers the proper Signification of μέλλουσα, nor of οἰκουμένη, of the first or second Part of the Expression; and tho’ such like Phrases may be used for the Dispensation of the Messiah in Opposition to that of the Law, yet the height of that Distinction or Opposition, and the fulfilling of the Expression, depends upon the second coming of our Saviour, and upon the _future Earth_ or habitable World, where he shall reign, and which does peculiarly belong to him and his Saints.

Neither can this _World to come_, or this _Earth to come_, be understood of the Kingdom of Heaven. For the _Greek_ Word will not bear that Sense, nor is it ever us’d in Scripture for _Heaven_. Besides, the Kingdom of Heaven, when spoken of as _future_, is not properly till the last Resurrection and final Judgment. Whereas _this World to come_, which our Saviour is to govern, must be therefore that Time, and will then expire. For all his Government as to this World, expires at the Day of Judgment, _1 Cor. xv. 24_, _&c._ and _he will then deliver up the Kingdom into the Hands of his Father, that he may be all in all_: Having reigned first himself, _and put down all Rule and all Authority and Power_. So that St. _Paul_, in these two Places of his Epistles, refers plainly to the same Time, and the same Reign of Christ; which must be in a _future World_, and before the _last Day of Judgment_, and therefore, according, to our Deductions, in the _new Heavens_ and the _new Earth_.

CHAP. III.

_Concerning the Inhabitants of the new Earth. That natural Reason
cannot determine this Point. That according to Scripture, the Sons
of the first Resurrection, or the Heirs of the Millennium, are to be
the Inhabitants of the new Earth. The Testimony of the Philosophers,
and of the Christian Fathers, for the Renovation of the World. The
first Proposition laid down._

Thus we have settled the true Notion, according to Reason and Scripture, of the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_: But where are the Inhabitants, you’ll say? You have taken the Pains to make us a new World, and now that it is made, it must stand empty. When the first World was destroyed, there were eight Persons preserv’d, with a Set of living Creatures of every Kind, as a Seminary or Foundation of another World; but the Fire, it seems, is more merciless than the Water; for in this Destruction of the World, it does not appear that there is one living Soul left, of any sort, upon the Face of the Earth. No Hopes of Posterity, nor of any Continuation of Mankind, in the usual Way of Propagation; and Fire is a barren Element, that breeds no living Creatures in it, nor hath any Nourishment proper for their Food or Sustenance.

We are perfectly at a Loss therefore, so far as I see, for a new Race of Mankind, or how to People this new-form’d World. The inhabitants, if ever there be any, must either come from Heaven, or spring from the Earth; there are but these two Ways. But _natural Reason_ can determine neither of these, sees no Track to follow in these unbeaten Paths, nor can advance one Step farther. Farewell then, dear Friend; I must take another Guide, and leave you here, as _Moses_ upon Mount _Pisgah_, only to look into that Land, which you cannot enter. I acknowledge the good Service you have done, and what a faithful Companion you have been, in a long Journey; from the Beginning of the World to this Hour, in a Tract of Time of six thousand Years. We have travelled together thro’ the dark Regions of a first and second _Chaos_; seen the World twice shipwreck’d: Neither Water, nor Fire, could separate us; but now you must give place to other Guides.

Welcome, _Holy Scriptures_, the Oracles of God, a Light shining in Darkness, a Treasury of hidden Knowledge; and where _Human Faculties_ cannot reach, a seasonable Help and Supply to their Defects. We are now come to the utmost Bounds of their Dominion; they have made us a New World, but, how it shall be inhabited, they cannot tell; know nothing of the History or Affairs of it. This we must learn from other Masters, inspir’d with the Knowledge of Things to come: And such Masters we know none, but the holy Prophets and Apostles. We must therefore now put our selves wholly under their Conduct and Instruction, and from them only receive our Information concerning the moral State of the future habitable Earth.

In the first place therefore, the Prophet _Isaiah_ tells us, as a Preparation to our farther Enquiries, _The Lord God created the Heavens, God himself that formed the Earth, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited, Isa. xlv. 18._ This is true, both of the present Earth and the _future_, and of every habitable World whatsoever. For to what purpose is it made habitable, if not to be inhabited? That would be, as if a Man should manure, and plough, and every Way prepare his Ground for Seed, but never sow it. We do not build Houses, that they should stand empty, but look out for Tenants as fast as we can; as soon as they are made ready and become tenantable. But if Man could do things in vain, and without Use or Design, yet God and Nature never do any thing _in vain_; much less so great a Work as the making of a World; which if it were in vain, would comprehend ten thousand Vanities or useless Preparations in it. _We_ may therefore, in the first place, safely conclude, _that the new Earth will be inhabited_.

But _by whom will it be inhabited_? This makes the second Enquiry. St. _Peter_ answers this Question for us, and with a particular Application to this very Subject of the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_: They shall be inhabited, he says, by the _Just_ or the _Righteous_. His Words which we cited before, are these; when he had described the Conflagration of the World, he adds, But we _expect new Heavens and a new Earth, WHEREIN DWELLETH RIGHTEOUSNESS_. By _Righteousness_ here, it is generally agreed, must be understood righteous Persons; for Righteousness cannot be without righteous Persons. It cannot hang upon Trees, or grow out of the Ground; ’tis the Endowment of reasonable Creatures. And these righteous Persons are eminently such, and therefore call’d Righteousness in the Abstract, or purely righteous without Mixture of Vice.

So we have found Inhabitants for the _new Earth_, Persons of an high and noble Character; like those describ’d by St. _Peter_, (_1 Eph. ii. 9._) _A chosen Generation, a royal Priesthood, an holy Nation, a peculiar People._ As if into that World, as into St. _John’s_ _new Jerusalem,_ nothing impure or unrighteous was to be admitted, _Apoc. xxi. 27._ These being then the happy and holy Inhabitants; the next Enquiry is, _Whence do they come?_ From what Off-spring, or from what Original? We noted before, that there was no Remnant of Mankind left at the Conflagration, as there was at the Deluge; nor any Hopes of a Restauration that Way. Shall we then imagine that these new Inhabitants are a Colony wafted over from some neigbouring World; as from the Moon, or Mercury, or some of the higher Planets? You may imagine what you please, but that seems to me not imaginary only, but impracticable: And that the Inhabitants of those Planets are Persons of so great Accomplishments, is more than I know; but I am sure they are not the Persons here understood; for these must be such as inhabited this Earth before. We look for _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_, says the Apostle: Surely to have some Share and Interest in them, otherwise there would be no Comfort in that Expectation. And the Prophet _Isaiah_ said before, I create _new Heavens_ and a _new Earth_, and the former shall come no more in Remembrance; but be _YOU glad and rejoyce for ever in that which I create_. The Truth is, none can have so good Pretensions to this Spot of Ground we call the Earth, as the Sons of Men, seeing they once possessed it; and if it be restor’d again, ’tis their Propriety and Inheritance. But ’tis not Mankind in general that must possess this new World, but the _Israel of God_, according to the Prophet _Isaiah_; or the _Just_, according to St. _Peter_; and especially those that have suffer’d for the Sake of their Religion. For this is that _Palingenesia_, as we noted before, that _Renovation_, or _Regeneration_ of all Things, where our Saviour says, those that suffer Loss for his Sake, shall be recompensed, _Matth._ xix. 28, 29.

But they must be then raised from the Dead. For all Mankind was destroyed at the Conflagration: and there is no Resource for them any other way, than by a Resurrection. ’Tis true: and St. _John_ (_Apoc._ xx.) gives us a fair Occasion to make this Supposition, _that_ there will be some raised from the Dead, before the general Day of Judgment. For he plainly distinguisheth of a _first_ and _second_ Resurrection, and makes the first to be a thousand Years before the second, and before the general Day of Judgment. Now, if there be truly and really a two-fold Resurrection, as St. _John_ tells us; and that a Thousand Years Distance from one another: It may be very rationally be presum’d, that those that are raised in the first Resurrection, are those _Just_ that will inhabit the _New Heavens_ and _New Earth_; or whom our Saviour promis’d to reward in the Renovation of the World.

For otherwise, who are those _Just_ that shall inhabit the _New Earth_, and whence do they come? Or when is that Restauration which our Saviour speaks of, wherein those that suffer’d for the Sake of the Gospel shall be rewarded? St. _John_ says, the _Martyrs_, at this first Resurrection, shall live again, and reign with Christ: Which seems to be the Reward promis’d by our Saviour, to those that suffer’d for his sake, and the same Persons in both Places. _And I saw the Souls of them_ (says St. _John_) _that were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God; and which had not worshipped the Beast, &c. and they lived and reigned with Christ a Thousand Years_, Apoc. xx. 4. These, I say, seem to be the same Persons, to whom Christ had before promis’d and appropriated a particular Reward. And this Reward of theirs, or this Reign of theirs, is upon _Earth_; upon some Earth, new or old, not in Heaven. For, besides that we read nothing of their Ascension into Heaven after their Resurrection; there are several Marks that shew, it must necessarily be understood of a State upon Earth. For _Gog_ and _Magog_ came from the _four Quarters of the Earth_, and besieged the _Camp of the Saints, and the beloved City_, ver. 9. That Camp and that City therefore were upon the Earth. And _Fire came down from Heaven, and devoured them._ If it came down from Heaven, it came upon the Earth. Farthermore, those Persons that are raised from the _Dead_, are said to be _Priests of God and of Christ, and to reign with him a thousand Years_, ver. 6. Now these must be the same Persons with the _Priests_ and _Kings_, mention’d in the fifth Chapter, ver. 10. which are there said expressly _to reign upon Earth_, or that they should _reign upon Earth_. It remains therefore only to determine, _what Earth_ this is, where the _Sons of the first Resurrection_ will live and reign. It cannot be the present Earth, in the same State, and under the same Circumstances it is now: For what Happiness or Privilege would that be, to be called back into a mortal Life, under the Necessities and Inconveniencies of sickly Bodies, and an incommodious World; such as the present State of Mortality is, and must continue to be, till some Change be made in Nature. We may be sure therefore, that a Change will be made in Nature, before that Time, and that the State they are rais’d into, and the Earth they are to inhabit, will be, at least, _Paradisaical_; and consequently can be no other than the _New Heavens_ and _New Earth_, which we are to expect after the Conflagration.

From these Considerations, there is a great Fairness to conclude, both as to the Characters of the Persons, and of the Place or State, that _the Sons of the first Resurrection_ will be Inhabitants of the _New Earth_, and reign there with Christ a Thousand Years. But seeing this is one of the principal and peculiar Conclusions of this Discourse, and bears a great Part in this last Book of the Theory of the Earth, it will deserve a more full Explication, and a more ample Proof, to make it out. We must therefore take a greater Compass in our Discourse, and give a full Account of that State which is usually call’d the _Millennium_; the Reign of the Saints a Thousand Years, or the Kingdom of Christ upon Earth. But before we enter upon this new Subject, give me leave to close our present Argument, about the _Renovation of the World_, with some Testimonies of the antient Philosophers, to that purpose. ’Tis plain to me, that there were among the Antients several Traditions, or traditionary Conclusions, which they did not raise themselves, by Reason and Observation, but received them from an unknown Antiquity. An Instance of this is the _Conflagration of the World_; a Doctrine as antient, for any Thing I know, as the World it self; at least as antient as we have any Records, and yet none of those Antients that tell us of it, give any Argument to prove it. Neither is it any Wonder, for they did not invent it themselves, but receiv’d it from others without Proof, by the sole Authority of Tradition. In like manner the _Renovation of the World_, which we are now speaking of, is an antient Doctrine, both amongst the _Greeks_ and _Eastern_ Philosophers: But they shew us no Method _how_ the World may be _renew’d_, nor make any Proof of its future Renovation; for it was not a Discovery which they first made, but receiv’d it with an implicit Faith, from their Masters and Ancestors: And these traditionary Doctrines were all Fore-runners of that Light which was to shine more clearly at the Opening of the Christian Dispensation; to give a more full Account of the Fate and Revolutions of the natural World, as well as of the moral.

The _Jews_, ’tis well known, held the _Renovation_ of the World, and a _Sabbath_ after Six Thousand Years; according to the Prophecy that was current among them; whereof we have given a larger Account in the precedent Book, _Chap._ v. And that future State they called עולם הבא, _Olam Hava_, or the _World to come_, which is the very same with Saint _Paul’s habitable Earth to come_, ἡ οἰκουμένη ἥ μέλλουσα, _Heb. ii. 6._ Neither can I easily believe, that those Constitutions of _Moses_ that proceed so much upon a _septenary_, or the Number _seven_, and have no Ground or Reason, in the Nature of the Thing, for that particular Number. I cannot easily believe, I say, that they are either accidental or humoursome, without Design or Signification; but that they are typical, or representative of some _Septenary_ State, that does eminently deserve and bear that Character. _Moses_, in the History of the Creation, makes six Days Work, and then a Sabbath: Then, after six Years, he makes a _Sabbath-Year_; and after a Sabbath of Years, a Year of Jubilee, _Levit. xxv._ All these lesser Revolutions seem to me to point at the grand Revolution, the great _Sabbath_ or _Jubilee_, after six Millenaries; which, as it answers the Type in point of Time, so likewise in the Nature and Contents of it; being a State of Rest from all Labour, and Trouble, and Servitude; a State of Joy and Triumph, and a State of _Renovation_, when Things are to return to their first Condition and pristine Order. So much for the _Jews_.

The Heathen Philosophers, both _Greeks_ and _Barbarians_, had the same Doctrine of the _Renovation_ of the _World_ current amongst them, and that under several Names and Phrases; as of the _Great Year_, the _Restauration_, the _Mundane Periods_, and such-like. They suppos’d stated and fix’d Periods of Time, upon Expiration whereof there would always follow some great Revolution of the World, and the Face of Nature would be renewed: particularly after the Conflagration, the _Stoicks_ always suppos’d a new World to succeed, or another Frame of Nature to be erected in the Room of that which was destroyed. And they use the same Words and Phrases upon this Occasion that Scripture useth. _Chrysippis_ calls it _Apocatastasis_ (_Lact._ l. 7. c. 23.) as St. _Peter_ does, _Acts_ iii. 21. _Marcus Antonius_ in his _Meditations_, several times calls it _Palingenesia_, as our Saviour does, _Matt._ xix. 28. And _Numenius_ hath two Scripture words, _Resurrection_ and _Restitution_, (_Euseb. præp. Ev._ l. 7. c. 23.) to express this Renovation of the World. Then as to the _Platonicks_, that Revolution of all Things hath commonly been call’d the _Platonick_ Year, as if _Plato_ had been the first Author of that Opinion; but that’s a great Mistake; he receiv’d it from the _Barbarick_ Philosophers, and particularly from the _Ægyptian_ Priests, amongst whom he liv’d several Years, to be instructed in their Learning. But I do not take _Plato_ neither to be the first that brought this Doctrine into _Greece_: For, besides that the _Sibylls_, whose Antiquity we do not well know, sung this Song of old, as we see it copy’d from them by _Virgil_ in his fourth Eclogue; _Pythagoras_ taught it before _Plato_, and _Orpheus_ before them both; and that’s as high as the _Greek_ Philosophy reaches.

The _Barbarick_ Philosophers were more antient; namely, the _Ægyptians_, _Persians_, _Chaldeans_, _Indian Brackmans_, and other Eastern Nations. Their Monuments indeed are in a great measure lost; yet from the Remains of them which the _Greeks_ have transcribed, and so preserv’d in their Writings, we see plainly they all had this Doctrine of the _future Renovation_. And to this Day the Posterity of the _Brackmans_ in the _East-Indies_ retain the same Notion, _that_ the World will be renew’d after the last Fire. You may see the Citations, if you please, for all these _Notions_, in the _Latin_ Treatise, _Ch._ v. which I thought would be too dry and tedious to be render’d into _English_.

To these Testimonies of the Philosophers of all Ages, for the future Renovation of the World, we might add the Testimonies of the Christian Fathers, _Greek_ and _Latin_, antient and modern. I will only give you a bare List of them, and refer you to the _Latin_ Treatise (_Chap._ ix.) for the Words or the Places. Amongst the _Greek_ Fathers, _Justin Martyr_, _Irenæus_, _Origen_: The Fathers of the _Council of Nice_, _Eusebius_; _Basil_; the two _Cyrils_, of _Jerusalem_ and _Alexandria_: The two _Gregories_, _Nazianzen_ and _Nyssen_; St. _Chrysostom_, _Zacharias Mitylenensis_; and of later Date, _Damascen_, _Oecumenius_, _Euthymius_, and others. These have all set their Hands and Seals to this Doctrine. Of the _Latin_ Fathers, _Tertullian_, _Lactantius_, St. _Hillary_, St. _Ambrose_, St. _Austin_, St. _Jerome_; and many later Ecclesiastical Authors. These, with the Philosophers before-mention’d, I count good Authority, sacred and prophane; which I place here as an Out-guard upon Scripture, where our principal Force lies. These three united, and acting in Conjunction, will be sufficient to prove this first Post, and to prove our first Proposition, which is this; _That after the Conflagration of this World,_ _there will be new Heavens and a new Earth; and that Earth will be inhabited._ (Propos. I.)

CHAP. IV.

_The Proof of a_ Millennium, _or of a blessed Age to come, from
Scripture. A View of the_ Apocalypse, _and of the Prophecies of_
Daniel, _in reference to this Kingdom of Christ and of his Saints._

We have given fair Presumptions, if not Proofs, in the precedent Chapter, that the Sons of the first Resurrection will be the Persons that shall inhabit the _new Earth_, or the World to come. But to make that Proof complete and unexceptionable, I told you, it would be necessary to take a larger Compass in our Discourse, and to examine what is meant by _that Reign with Christ a thousand Years_, which is promis’d to the Sons of the _first Resurrection_, by St. _John_ in the _Apocalypse_; and in other places of Scripture is usually call’d the _Kingdom of Christ_, and the Reign of the Saints: And by Ecclesiastical Authors, in Imitation of St. _John_, it is commonly styled, the _Millennium_. We shall indifferently use any of these Words or Phrases; and examine, first, the Truth of the Notion and Opinion, whether, in Scripture, there be any such an happy State promised to the Saints under the Conduct of Christ; and then we will proceed to examine the Nature, Characters, Place and Time of it. And I am in hopes when these Things are duly discuss’d and stated, you will be satisfied that we have found out the true Inhabitants of the _new Heavens_ and _new Earth_; and the true Mystery of that State which is called the _Millennium_, or the Reign of Christ and of his Saints.

We begin with St. _John_, whose Words in the xxth Chapter of the _Apocalypse_, ver. 1, 2, 4, 5, 6. are express, both as to the first Resurrection, and as to the Reign of those Saints that rise with Christ for a Thousand Years; Satan in the mean Time being bound, or disabled from doing Mischief, and seducing Mankind. The Words of the Prophet are these; _And I saw an Angel come down from Heaven, having the Key of the bottomless Pit, and a great Chain in his Hand. And he laid hold on the Dragon, that old Serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a Thousand Years. And I saw Thrones, and they sat upon them, and Judgment was given unto them; And I saw the Souls of them that were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and which had not worshipped the Beast, neither his Image, neither had received his Mark upon their Foreheads, or in their Hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand Years. But the rest of the Dead lived not again until the thousand Years were finished. This is the first Resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection; on such the second Death hath no Power, but they shall be Priests of God, and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand Years_. These Words do fully express a Resurrection, and a Reign with Christ a thousand Years. As for that particular Space of Time, of a _Thousand Years_, it is not much material to our present Purpose: but the Resurrection here spoken of, and the Reign with Christ, make the Substance of the Controversy, and in effect prove all that we enquire after at present. This Resurrection, you see, is call’d the _first Resurrection_, by way of Distinction from the second and general Resurrection; which is to be placed a Thousand Years after the first. And both this first Resurrection, and the Reign of Christ, seem to be appropriated to the Martyrs in this Place: For the Prophet says, _The Souls of those that were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus, &c. they lived and reigned with Christ a Thousand Years_. From which Words, if you please, we will raise this Doctrine; that _those that have suffer’d for the Sake of Christ, and a good Conscience, shall be raised from the Dead a Thousand Years before the general Resurrection, and reign with Christ in an happy State_. This Proposition seems to be plainly included in the Words of St. _John_, and to be the intended Sense of this Vision; but you must have Patience a little as to your Enquiry into Particulars, till, in the Progress of our Discourse, we have brought all the Parts of this Conclusion into a fuller Light.

In the mean time there is but one Way, that I know of, to evade the Force of these Words, and of the Conclusion drawn from them; and that is, by supposing that the _first Resurrection_ here mention’d, is not to be understood in a literal Sense, but is allegorical and mystical, signifying only a Resurrection from Sin to a spiritual Life: As we are said to be _dead in Sin_, and to be _risen with Christ_, by Faith and Regeneration. This is a manner of Speech which St. _Paul_ does sometimes use, as _Eph._ ii. 6. and ver. 14, and _Col._ 3. 1. But how can this be applied to the present Case? Were the Martyrs dead in Sin? ’Tis they that are here rais’d from the Dead: Or, after they were beheaded for the Witness of Jesus, naturally dead and laid in their Graves, were they then regenerate by Faith? There is no Congruity in Allegories so apply’d. Besides, why should they be said to be regenerate a Thousand Years before the Day of Judgment? or to reign with Christ, after this Spiritual Resurrection, such a limited Time, a Thousand Years? Why not so to Eternity? For in this allegorical Sense of _rising_ and _reigning_, they will reign with him for everlasting. Then, after a Thousand Years, must all the Wicked be regenerate, and rise into a Spiritual Life? ’Tis said here, _the rest of the Dead lived not again, until the Thousand Years were finished, ver._ 5. That implies, that at the End of these Thousand Years, the rest of the Dead did live again; which, according to the Allegory, must be, that, after a Thousand Years, all the Wicked will be regenerate, and rais’d into Spiritual Life. These Absurdities arise upon an allegorical Exposition of this Resurrection, if apply’d to single Persons.