_That the World will be destroy’d by Fire, is the Doctrine of the
Ancients, especially of the Stoicks. That the same Doctrine is more
ancient than the Greeks, and deriv’d from the Barbarick Philosophy;
and That probably from Noah, the Father of all Traditionary
Learning. The same Doctrine expressly authorized by Revelation, and
inroll’d into the Sacred Canon._
That the present World, or the present Frame of Nature, will be
destroy’d, we have already shewn. In what Manner this Destruction will
be, by what Force, or what kind of Fate, must be our next Enquiry. The
Philosophers have always spoken of _Fire_ and _Water_, those Two unruly
Elements, as the only Causes that can destroy the World, and work our
Ruin; and accordingly, they say, all the great and fatal Revolutions of
Nature, either past, or to come, depend upon the Violence of these Two;
when they get the Mastery, and overwhelm all the rest, and the whole
Earth, in a Deluge, or Conflagration. But, as they make these Two the
destroying Elements, so they also make them the purifying Elements. And,
accordingly in their Lustrations, or their Rites and Ceremonies for
purging Sin; Fire and Water were chiefly made use of, both amongst the
_Romans_, _Greeks_, and _Barbarians_. And when these Elements over-run
the World, it is not, they say, for a final Destruction of it, but to
purge Mankind, and Nature from their Impurities. As for Purgation by
Fire and Water, the Stile of our Sacred Writings does very much
accommodate itself to that Sense; and the Holy Ghost, who is the great
Purifier of Souls, is compared in his Operation upon us, and in our
Regeneration, to Fire or Water. And as for the external World, S.
_Peter_, _1 Ep. iii. 21._ makes the Flood to have been a kind of
_Baptizing_ or Renovation of the World. And S. _Paul_, _1 Cor. iii. 13._
and the Prophet _Malachi_, _c. iii. 2, 3._ makes the last Fire, to be a
purging and refining Fire. But to return to the Ancients.
The _Stoicks_ especially, of all other Sects amongst the _Greeks_, have
preserved the Doctrine of the Conflagration; and made it a considerable
Part of their Philosophy, and almost a Character of their Order. This is
a Thing so well known, that I need not use any Citations to prove it.
But they cannot pretend to have been the first Authors of it neither.
For, besides that amongst the _Greeks_ themselves, _Heraclitus_ and
_Empedocles_, more ancient than _Zeno_, the Master of the _Stoicks_,
taught this Doctrine; ’tis plainly a Branch of the Barbarick Philosophy,
and taken from thence by the _Greeks_. For it is well known, that the
most ancient and mystick Learning amongst the _Greeks_, was not
originally their own, but borrowed of the more Eastern Nations, by
_Orpheus_, _Pythagoras_, _Plato_, and many more, who travell’d thither,
and traded with the Priests for Knowledge and Philosophy; and when they
got a competent Stock, returned home, and set up a School, or a Sect, to
instruct their Countrymen. But before we pass to the Eastern Nations,
let us, if you please, compare the _Roman_ Philosophy upon this Subject,
with that of the _Greeks_.
The _Romans_ were a great People, that made a Shew of Learning, but had
little, in reality, more than Words and Rhetorick. Their Curiosity or
Emulation in Philosophical Studies was so little, that it did not make
different Sects and Schools amongst them, as amongst the _Greeks_. I
remember no Philosophers they had, but such as _Tully_, _Seneca_, and
some of their Poets. And of these _Lucretius_, _Lucan_, and _Ovid_, have
spoken openly of the Conflagration. _Ovid_’s Verses are well known,
_Esse quoque in fatis reminiscitur, affore tempus,
Quo mare, quo tellus, correptaque regia Cœli
Ardeat, & mundi moles operosa laboret._
_A Time decreed by Fate, at length will come,
When Heavens, and Earth, and Seas, shall have their Doom;
A fiery Doom: And Nature’s mighty Frame,
Shall break, and be dissolv’d into a Flame._
We see _Tully_’s Sense upon this Matter, in _Scipio_’s _Dream_. When the
old Man speaks to his Nephew _Africanus_, and shews him from the Clouds,
this Spot of Earth, where we live; he tells him, tho’ our Actions should
be great, and Fortune favour them with Success, yet there wou’d be no
Room for any lasting Glory in this World; for the World itself, is
transient and fugitive. And a Deluge, or a Conflagration, which
necessarily happen after certain Periods of Time, will sweep away all
Records of human Actions. As for _Seneca_, he being a profess’d
_Stoick_, we need not doubt of his Opinion in this Point. We may add
here, if you please, the _Sybelline Verses_, which were kept, with great
Religion, in the Capitol at _Rome_, and consulted with much Ceremony
upon solemn Occasions. These _Sybils_, were the Prophetesses of the
_Gentiles_; and tho’ their Writings now have many spurious Additions,
yet none doubt but that the Conflagration of the World, was one of their
original Prophecies.
Let us now proceed to the Eastern Nations. As the _Romans_ received the
small Skill they had in the Sciences, from the _Greeks_; so the
_Greeks_, receiv’d their chief Mystick Learning from the _Barbarians_:
That is, from the _Ægyptians_, _Persians_, _Phœnicians_, and other
Eastern Nations; for ’tis not only the Western, or Northern People, that
they called _Barbarians_, but indeed, all Nations besides themselves.
For that is commonly the Vanity of great Empires, to uncivilize, in a
Manner, all the rest of the World; and to account all those People
_barbarous_, that are not subject to their Dominion. These however, whom
they called so, were the most ancient People, and had the first Learning
that was ever heard of after the Flood. And amongst these, the
_Ægyptians_ were as famous as any; whose Sentiments in this particular
of the Conflagration, are well known. For _Plato_, who liv’d amongst
them several Years, tells us in his _Timæus_, that it was the Doctrine
of their Priests, that the fatal Catastrophes of the World, were by
_Fire_ and _Water_. In like manner, the _Persians_ made their beloved
God, _Fire_, at length to consume all Things that are capable of being
consum’d: For that is said to have been the Doctrine of _Hydaspes_, one
of their great _Magi_, or Wise Men. As to the _Phœnicians_, I suspect
very much, that the _Stoicks_ had their Philosophy from them (_Just.
Mar. Apol. 2._) and amongst other Things the Conflagration. We shall
take Notice of that hereafter.
But to comprehend the _Arabians_ also, and _Indians_, give me leave to
reflect a little upon the Story of the _Phœnix_. A Story well known, and
related by some ancient Authors, and is in short this: The _Phœnix_,
they say, is a Bird in _Arabia_, _India_, and those Eastern Parts,
single in her Kind, never more than one at a Time, and very long-lived;
appearing only at the Expiration of the _Great Year_, as they call it:
And when she makes herself a Nest of Spices, which being set on fire by
the Sun, or some other secret Power, she hovers upon it, and consumes
herself in the Flames. But, which is most wonderful, out of these Ashes
riseth a second _Phœnix_, so that it is not so much a Death, as a
Renovation. I do not doubt but the Story is a Fable, as to any such kind
of Bird, single in her Species, living, and dying, and reviving in that
Manner: But ’tis an Apologue, or a Fable with an Interpretation, and was
intended as an _Emblem_ of the World; which, after a long Age, will be
consum’d in the last Fire: And from its Ashes or Remains, will arise
another World, or a new-form’d Heavens and Earth. This, I think, is the
true Mystery of the _Phœnix_, under which Symbol the Eastern Nations
preserv’d the Doctrine of the Conflagration, and Renovation of the
World. They tell somewhat a like Story of the Eagle, soaring aloft so
near the Sun, that by his Warmth and enlivening Rays, she renews her
Age, and becomes young again. To this the _Psalmist_ is thought to
allude, Psal. ciii. 5. _Thy Youth shall be renewed like the Eagles_:
Which the _Chaldee_ Paraphrast renders, _In mundo venturo renovabis,
sicut Aquilæ, juventutem tuam_. These Things to me seem plainly to be
Symbolical, representing that World to come, which the Paraphrast
mentions, and the firing of this. And this is after the Manner of the
Eastern Wisdom; which always lov’d to go fine, cloath’d in Figures and
Fancies.
And not only the Eastern _Barbarians_, but the Northern and Western
also, had this Doctrine of the Conflagration amongst them. The
_Scythians_, in their Dispute with the _Ægyptians_ about Antiquity,
argue upon both Suppositions, of Fire or Water, destroying the last
World, or beginning This. And in the West, the _Celts_, the most ancient
People there, had the same Tradition; for the _Druids_, who were their
Priests and Philosophers, derived not from the _Greeks_, but of the old
Race of Wise Men, that had their Learning traditionally, and, as it
were, hereditary from the first Ages: These, as _Strabo_ tells us, _lib.
4._ gave the World a kind of Immortality, by repeated Renovations; and
the Principle that destroy’d it, according to them, was always Fire or
Water. I had forgot to mention in this List, the _Chaldeans_, whose
Opinion we have from _Berosus_, in _Seneca_, _Nat. Quæst. 3._ _c. 29_.
They did not only teach the Conflagration, but also fix’d it to a
certain Period of Time, when there should happen a great Conjunction of
the Planets in _Cancer_. Lastly, we may add, to close the Account, the
modern _Indian_ Philosophers, the Reliques of the old _Bragmans_: These,
as _Maffeus_ tells us, _lib._ 16. _Hist. Ind._ declare, That the World
will be renewed after an universal Conflagration.
You see of what Extent and Universality throughout all Nations, this
Doctrine of the Conflagration hath been. Let us now consider, what
Defects or Excesses there are, in these ancient Opinions, concerning
this Fate of the World, and how they may be rectified: That we may admit
them no further into our Belief, than they are warranted by Reason, or
by the Authority of the Christian Religion. The first Fault they seem to
have committed about this Point, is this, That they made these
Revolutions and Renovations of Nature, indefinite or endless: As if
there would be such a Succession of Deluges and Conflagrations to all
Eternity. This the _Stoicks_ seem plainly to have asserted, as appears
from _Numenius_, _Philo_, _Simplicius_, and others. S. _Jerome_, _Ep.
60._ imputes this Opinion also to _Origen_; but he does not always hit
the true Sense of that Father, or is not fair and just in the
Representation of it. Whosoever held this Opinion, ’tis a manifest
Error, and may be easily rectified by the Christian Revelation; which
teaches us plainly, that there is a final Period and Consummation of all
Things that belong to this Sublunary or Terrestrial World; When the
_Kingdom shall be delivered up to the Father_; and Time shall be no
more.
Another Error they committed in this Doctrine, is, the Identity, or
Sameness, if I may so say, of the World’s succeeding one another. They
are made, indeed, of the same Lump of Matter, but they supposed them to
return also in the same Form. And, which is worse, that there would be
the same Face of human Affairs; the same Persons and the same Actions
over again; so as the second World would be but a bare Repetition of the
former, without any Variety or Diversity. Such a Revolution is commonly
call’d the _Platonick Year_: A Period when all Things return to the same
Posture they had been some Thousand of Years before; as a Play acted
over again, upon the same Stage, and to the same Auditory: This is a
groundless and injudicious Supposition. For, whether we consider the
Nature of Things, the Earth, after a Dissolution by Fire, or by Water,
could not return into the same Form and Fashion it had before; Or
whether we consider Providence, it would no way suit with the Divine
Wisdom and Justice, to bring upon the Stage again, those very Scenes,
and that very Course of human Affairs, which it had so lately condemn’d
and destroy’d. We may be assur’d therefore, that, upon the Dissolution
of a World, a new Order of Things, both as to Nature and Providence,
always appears. And what that new Order will be, in both respects, after
the _Conflagration_, I hope we shall, in the following Book, give a
satisfactory Account.
These are the Opinions, true or false, of the Ancients; and chiefly of
the _Stoicks_, concerning the Mystery of the Conflagration. It will not
be improper to enquire, in the last Place, how the _Stoicks_ came by
this Doctrine: Whether it was their Discovery and Invention, or from
whom they learned it. That it was not their own Invention, we have given
sufficient ground to believe, by shewing the Antiquity of it beyond the
Times of the _Stoicks_. Besides, what a Man invents himself, he can give
the Reasons and Causes of it, as Things upon which he founded his
Invention: But the _Stoicks_ do not this, but, according to the ancient
traditional Way, deliver the Conclusion without Proof or Premises. We
named _Heraclitus_ and _Empedocles_, amongst the _Greeks_, to have
taught this Doctrine before the _Stoicks_; And, according to _Plutarch_
(_de Defec. Orac._) _Hesiod_ and _Orpheus_, Authors of the highest
Antiquity, sung of this last Fire in their Philosophick Poetry. But I
suspect the _Stoicks_ had this Doctrine from the _Phœnicians_; for if we
inquire into the Original of that Sect, we shall find that their Founder
_Zeno_, was a Barbarian, or Semi-barbarian, deriv’d from the
_Phœnicians_, as _Laertius_ and _Cicero_ give an Account of him. And the
_Phœnicians_ had a great Share in the Oriental Knowledge, as we see by
_Sanchoniathion’s_ Remains in _Eusebius_. And by their mystical Books
which _Suidas_ mentions, from whence _Pherecydes_, _Pythagoras_’s
Master, had his Learning. We may therefore, reasonably presume, that it
might be from his Countrymen, the _Phœnicians_, that _Zeno_ had the
Doctrine of the _Conflagration_. Not that he brought it first into
_Greece_, but strongly reviv’d it, and made it almost peculiar to his
Sect.
So much for the _Stoicks_ in particular, and the _Greeks_ in general. We
have also, you see, trac’d these Opinions higher, to the first Barbarick
Philosophers; who were the first Race of Philosophers after the Flood.
But _Josephus_ tells a formal Story, of Pillars set up by _Seth_, before
the Flood; implying the Foreknowledge of this fiery Destruction of the
World, even from the Beginning of it. His Words, _lib. 1. c. 3._ are to
this Effect, give what Credit to them you think fit: _Seth and his
Fellow Students, having found out the Knowledge of the Cœlestial Bodies,
and the Order and Disposition of the Universe; and having also receiv’d
from Adam, a Prophecy, that the World should have a double Destruction,
one by Water, another by Fire: To preserve and transmit their Knowledge,
in either Case, to Posterity, they raised two Pillars, one of Brick,
another of Stone, and ingrav’d upon them their Philosophy and
Inventions. And one of these Pillars_, the Author says (Κατα τον
Συριαδα) _was standing in_ Syria, _even to his Time_. I do not press the
Belief of this Story; there being nothing, that I know of, in Antiquity,
Sacred or Prophane, that gives a joint Testimony with it. And those that
set up these Pillars, do not seem to me, to have understood the Nature
of the _Deluge_ or _Conflagration_; if they thought a Pillar, either of
Brick or Stone, would be secure, in those great Dissolutions of the
Earth. But we have pursued this Doctrine high enough, without the Help
of these ante-diluvian Antiquities: Namely, to the earliest People, and
the first Appearances of Wisdom after the Flood. So that, I think, we
may justly look upon it as the Doctrine of _Noah_, and of his immediate
Posterity. And, as that is the highest Source of Learning to the present
World; so we should endeavour to carry our Philosophical Traditions to
that Original: For I cannot persuade myself, but that they had amongst
them, even in those early Days, the main Strokes, or Conclusions of the
best Philosophy: Or, if I may so say, a Form of sound Doctrine
concerning Nature and Providence. Of which Matter, if you will allow me
a short Digression, I will speak my Thoughts in a few Words.
In those first Ages of the World, after the Flood, when _Noah_ and his
Children peopled the Earth again, as he gave them Precepts of Morality
and Piety, for the Conduct of their Manners; which are usually call’d
_Præcepta Noachidarum_, the _Precepts_ of _Noah_, frequently mention’d
both by the _Jews_ and _Christians_: So also he deliver’d to them, at
least, if we judge aright, certain Maxims, or Conclusions about
Providence, the State of Nature, and the Fate of the World: And these,
in Proportion, may be call’d _Dogmata Noachidarum_, the _Doctrines_ of
_Noah_, and _his Children_. Which made a System of Philosophy, or secret
Knowledge amongst them, delivered by Tradition from Father to Son; but
especially preserv’d amongst their Priests and Sacred Persons, or such
others as were addicted to Contemplation. This I take to be more ancient
than _Moses_ himself, or the _Jewish_ Nation. But it would lead me too
far out of my Way, to set down, in this Place, the Reasons of my
Judgment. Let it be sufficient to have pointed only at this
Fountain-head of Knowledge, and so return to our Argument.
We have heard, as it were, a Cry of Fire, throughout all Antiquity, and
throughout all the People of the Earth. But those Alarums are sometimes
false, or make a greater Noise than the Thing deserves. For my Part, I
never trust Antiquity barely upon its own Account, but always require a
second Witness, either from Nature, or from Scripture: What the Voice of
Nature is, we shall hear all along in the following Treatise. Let us
then examine at present, what Testimony the Prophets and Apostles give
to this ancient Doctrine of the Conflagration of the World. The Prophets
see the World a Fire at a Distance, and more imperfectly, as a
Brightness in the Heavens, rather than a burning Flame: But S. _Peter_
describes it, as if he had been standing by, and seen the Heavens and
Earth in a red Fire; heard the cracking Flames, and the tumbling
Mountains, 2 _Pet._ iii. 10. In the Day of the Lord, _The Heavens shall
pass away with a great Noise, and the Elements shall melt with fervent
Heat: The Earth also, and the Works that are therein, shall be burnt
up_. Then, after a pious Ejaculation, he adds, _Ver._ 12. _Looking for,
and hastening the coming of the Day of God, wherein the Heavens being on
Fire, shall be dissolv’d; and the Elements shall melt with fervent
Heat._ This is as lively as a Man could express it, if he had the
dreadful Spectacle before his Eyes. S. _Peter_ had before taught the
same Doctrine (_ver._ 5, 6, 7.) but in a more Philosophick Way;
describing the double Fate of the World, by Water and Fire, with
relation to the Nature and Constitution of either World, past or
present. _The Heavens and the Earth were of old, consisting of Water,
and by Water: Whereby, the World that then was, being overflowed with
Water, perished. But the Heavens and the Earth which are now, by the
same Word are kept in Store, reserved unto Fire, against the Day of
Judgment, and Perdition of Ungodly, or Atheistical Men._ This Testimony
of S. _Peter_ being full, direct, and explicit, will give Light and
Strength to several other Passages of Scripture, where the same Thing is
exprest obscurely, or by Allusion. As when S. _Paul_ says, _The Fire
shall try every Man’s Work in that Day_, 1 Cor. iii. 12, 13. And our
Saviour says, _The Tares shall be burnt in the Fire, at the End of the
World_, Matth. xiii. 40, 41, 42. Accordingly it is said, both by the
Apostles and Prophets, that _God_ will come to Judgment _in Fire_. St.
_Paul_ to the _Thessalonians_, 2 _Thess._ ii. 7, 8. promiseth the
persecuted Righteous Rest and Ease, _When the Lord shall be revealed
from Heaven, with his mighty Angels, in flaming Fire; taking Vengeance
on them that know not God_, &c. And so to the _Hebrews_, St. _Paul_
says, _ch._ x. 27. that for wilful Apostates, there remaineth no more
Sacrifice for Sin, _but a certain fearful looking for of Judgment, and
fiery Indignation, which shall devour the Adversaries_, or Enemies of
God. And in _ch._ xii. _ver._ 26, 27, 28, 29. he alludes to the same
Thing, when, after he had spoken of _shaking the Heavens_, and the
_Earth_ once more, he exhorteth, as St. _Peter_ does upon the same
Occasion, to _Reverence and godly Fear; for our God is a consuming
Fire_.
In like manner the Prophets, when they speak of destroying the Wicked,
and the Enemies of God and Christ, at the End of the World, represent it
as a Destruction _by Fire_. Psal. xi. 6. _Upon the Wicked the Lord shall
rain Coals, Fire, and Brimstone, and a burning Tempest: This shall be
the Portion of their Cup._ And Psal. l. 3. _Our God shall come, and will
not be slow: A Fire shall devour before him_, and it _shall be very
tempestuous round about him_. And in the Beginning of those two
triumphal Psalms, the lxviiith, and xcviith, we see plain Allusions to
this coming of the Lord in Fire. The other Prophets speak in the same
Style, of a fiery Indignation against the Wicked, in the Day of the
Lord: As in _Isaiah_ lxvi. 15. _For behold the Lord will come with Fire,
and with his Chariots like a Whirlwind, to render his Anger with Fury,
and his Rebuke with Flames of Fire_ (and _ch._ xxxiv. 8, 9, 10) And in
_Daniel_, _c._ vii. 9, 10. The Ancient of Days is placed upon his Seat
of Judgment, covered in Flames. _I beheld till the Thrones were set, and
the Ancient of Days did sit, whose Garment was white as Snow, and the
Hair of his Head like the pure Wool: His Throne was like the fiery
Flame, his Wheels as burning Fire. A fiery Stream issued and came forth
from before him: thousand thousands ministred unto him, and ten thousand
times ten thousand stood before him: The Judgment was set, and the Books
were opened._ The Prophet _Malachi_, c. iv. 1. describes the Day of the
Lord to the same Effect, and in like Colours; _Behold the Day cometh,
that shall burn as an Oven: and all the Proud, yea, and all that do
wickedly, shall be as Stubble; and the Day that cometh shall burn them
up, saith the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither Root nor
Branch._ And that Nature herself, and the Earth shall suffer in that
Fire, the Prophet _Zephany_ tells us, _c._ iii. 8. _All the Earth shall
be devoured with the Fire of my Jealousy._ Lastly, this Consumption of
the Earth by Fire, even to the Foundations of it, is exprest livelily by
_Moses_ in his Song, _Deut._ xxxii. 22. _A Fire is kindled in my Anger,
and shall burn unto the lowest Hell: and shall consume the Earth with
her Increase, and set on Fire the Foundations of the Mountains._
If we reflect upon these Witnesses; and especially the first and last,
_Moses_ and Saint _Peter_; at what a great Distance of Time they writ
their Prophecies, and yet how well they agree, we must needs conclude
they were acted by the same Spirit; and a Spirit that saw thorough all
the Ages of the World, from the Beginning to the End. These Sacred
Writers were so remote in Time from one another, that they could not
confer together, nor conspire either in a false Testimony, or to make
the same Prediction. But being under one common Influence and
Inspiration, which is always consistent with itself, they have dictated
the same Things, tho’ at two thousand Years Distance sometimes from one
another. This, besides many other Considerations, makes their Authority
incontestable. And upon the whole Account, you see, that the Doctrine of
the future _Conflagration of the World_, having run thro’ all Ages and
Nations, is, by the joint Consent of the Prophets and Apostles, adopted
into the Christian Faith.