_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.
[Illustration: The regions of the Earth, a series of concentric Circles,
with A. A. denoting the Lower Region.]
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_.