Miscellaneous discourses concerning the dissolution and changes of the world wherein the primitive chaos and creation, the general deluge, fountains, formed stones, sea-shells found in the earth, subterraneous trees, mountains, earthquakes, vulcanoes, the universal conflagration and future state, are largely discussed and examined / by John Ray ...

CHAP. II. (Book 2)

The Testimonies of Scripture concerning the Dissolution of the World.

1. THen, Let us consider what we find delivered in the holy Scriptures, concerning the Dissolution of the World. And first of all, This place, which I have made choice of for my Text, is in my opinion the most clear and full, as to this particular, in the whole Scripture; and will give light for the Solution of most of the proposed Que∣stions. V. 10. The day of the Lord shall come as a thief, &c. This answers the third Question, Whether the Dissolution shall be gradual or sudden? Wherein the Heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat, the Earth also, and all the works that are therein shall be burnt up. And again, V. 12. Wherein the Heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat. This answers the second Question, What the Means and Instruments of this Dissolution shall be? V. 13. Nevertheless

we according to his promise, look for a new Heaven and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. This gives some light toward the answering of the last Question, Whether shall the Heavens and the Earth be wholly burnt up and destroyed, or only renewed and purified? These Words as clearly as they seem to refer to the Dissolution of the World, yet Dr. Hammond doubts not to be understood of the remarkable destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish State, he thus pa∣raphrasing them.

V. 10.

But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the Hea∣vens shall pass away with a great noise, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat, and the Earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.

But this Judgment of Christ, so remark∣able on the Jews, shall now shortly come, and that very discernably; and the Temple shall suddenly be destroyed, the greater part of it burnt, and the City and People utterly consumed.

V. 11.

Seeing then all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought

ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?

Seeing then this destruction shall thus in∣volve all, and now approacheth so near, what an engagement doth this lay upon us to live the most pure strict lives that ever men lived?

V. 12.

Looking for and hastning unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the Elements shall melt with fervent heat.

Looking for the coming of Christ, for our deliverance, and by our Christian lives quick∣ning and hastning God to delay it no lon∣ger; that Coming of his, I say, which as it signifies great mercy to us, so it signifies very sharp destruction to the whole Jewish State.

V. 13.

Nevertheless we according to his pro∣mise, look for new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Instead of which we look for a new Chri∣stian State, wherein all provision is made by Christ for righteousness to inhabit, according to the promise of Christ concerning the puri∣ty

that he should plant in the Evangelical State.

How he makes out and confirms this Paraphrase, see in his Annotations upon this place. So confident is he of the Truth of this his Interpretation, that he censures the usual one as a great Mistake, in his Annota∣tion on v. 10. where he thus writes; What is here thus expressed by S. Peter, is ordina∣rily conceived to belong to the end of the World, and by others applyed to the end of this World, and the beginning of the Millen¦nium, or thousand years. And so, as S. Peter here saith, v. 16. many other places in S. Paul's Epistles, and in the Gospel, especi∣ally Matth. 24. are mistaken and wrested▪ That it doth not belong to either of those but to this fatal day of the Jews, sufficient∣ly appears by the purport of this whole Epistle, which is, to arm them with Constan¦cy and Perseverance till that day come; and particularly, in this Chapter, to confute them who object against the Truth of Christ's Predictions, and resolve it should not come at all: Against whom he here opposes the Certainty, the Speediness, and the Terrible¦ness of its coming. That which hath given occasion to those other common Mistakes, is especially the Hideousness of those Judg∣ments, which fell upon that People of the

Jews, beyond all that ever before are re∣••ated to have fallen upon them, or indeed any other people, which made it necessary ••or the Prophets, which were to describe it 〈◊〉〈◊〉 and who use Tropes and Figures, and not ••lain Expressions, to set down their Predicti∣••ns) to express it by these high Phrases, of ••he passing away and dissolving of Heaven and Earth and Elements, &c. which sounding very tragically, are mistaken for the great ••nd final Dissolution of the World. So far the Doctor. Two things there are in this Chapter, which seem to contradict this In∣••erpretation; First, That the Destruction ••ere spoken of, is compared with Noah's ••lood; and the Heaven and Earth to be dis∣••olved by this, made parallel, and of equal extent to the World destroyed by that. Of this the Doctor was well aware, and there∣fore grants, that the 7th Verse, But the Hea∣vens and the Earth which are now, by the ••••me word are kept in store, reserved unto fire ••gainst the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men, is to be understood of the general and final destruction of the World by fire, but the following Verses to be an Answer to the first part of the Atheists Objection, viz. Where is the promise of his coming? To me it seems, that all refer to the same matter. The se∣cond thing which seems to contradict the

Doctor's Interpretation, is, the Apostles citing for the instruction and confirmation of the Believers, and in answer to the Atheists Ob¦jection (Where is the promise of his coming? •• that place of the Psalmist, Psal. 90.4. Tha•• one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. For th•• Apostle seems to suppose, that the time o•• Christ's coming, might possibly be a thousand years off; and that they were not to thin•• much, or distrust the promise, if it were so for though it were predicted as thin•• shortly to come, yet they were to conside•• that a thousand years in God's sight, is but very short time; so that it might be fore tol•• as shortly to come, though it were a thou¦sand years off. Whereas it might seem im¦proper to mention a thousand years to sup¦port them in expectation of an Event th•• was not twenty years to come.

Another place where mention is made •••• Christ's coming to Judgment, and the Diss••¦lution of the World, is Matth. 24. to whic•• may be added as parallel, Mark 13. an•• Luke 21. In which places you have con••••¦derable, 1. The Suddenness of Christ's com¦ing, v. 27. As the lightning comes out of t•• East, and shineth even unto the West, so sh•• the coming of the Son of Man be. 2. The Sig•• of his coming, v. 29. Immediately after t••

tribulation of those days, shall the Sun be darkned, and the Moon shall not give her light, and the Stars shall fall from Heaven, and the powers of Heaven shall be shaken. 3. The manner of his coming, v. 30. And then shall appear the Sign of the Son of Man in Heaven: and then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn, when they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet, and they shall gather together his Elect from the four Winds, from one end of Heaven to the other. 4. The Uncertainty of the time of his coming, and this dissolution as to us, But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no not the Angels in Heaven: and Mark adds, neither the Son, but the Father only.

All this Prophecy Dr. Hammond under∣stands of the destruction of the City and Temple of Jerusalem, and whole Nation of the Jews; as may be seen in his Paraphrase and Annotations upon this place. And in∣deed our Saviour himself seems to limit it to this, saying, v. 24. Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all these things be fulfilled. For if these Pro∣phecies look further than the destruction of Jerusalem, even to Christ's coming to Judg∣ment, how could it be true, that that gene∣ration

should not pass away till all those things were fulfilled? Whereas we see, that that Generation is long since passed away, and yet the end is not yet? And indeed Expositors that understand them of the end of the World, and Christ's second coming to Judgment, are hard put to it to answer this Objection. S. Chrysostom will have this word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to be understood not of the Ge∣neration of men then living, but of the Ge∣neration of the faithful, which should not fail till the end of the World. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 (saith he) 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, &c. He denominates a Generation not on∣ly from living together in the same time, but from having the same form and manner of re∣ligious Worship and Polity; as in that place, This is the generation of them that seek thee, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Beza under∣stands 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 of the present Age, and will have it to be of the same valor with 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 in Hebrew, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 to refer not to all particulars mentioned in this Chapter, but only to those which are spoken of the de∣struction of the City and Nation of the Jews; But (saith he) if any one urgeth the universal Particle, Vertere licebit, Fiant omnia, viz. quae ultimam illam diem praecessura dixit. Nam

ab illo tempore coeperunt fieri, & adhuc per∣severant illa signa, suo demum tempore. Filio hominis venturo.

But on the other side, 1. Some passages there are in this Chapter, which are hardly applicable to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the Dissolution of the Jewish Common∣wealth; as the appearing of the Sign of the Son of man in heaven, and the Tribes seeing the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. And his sending his Angels with a great sound of a Trumpet. 2. The coming of Christ is in like man∣ner described in places which undoubtedly speak of his coming to Judgment at the end of the World. As in 1 Cor. 15.52. mention is made of the Trumpets sounding at the time of Christ's coming: and 1 Thess. 4.16. it is said, The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God: and v. 17. We that are alive shall be caught up together with them [that are risen] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the Air. All which places are perfectly parallel, and seem manifestly to al∣lude to the fore-mentioned words, Matth. 24.30, 31. I am apt to think, that these Pro∣phecies may have a double respect; one to the City, Temple, and Nation of the Jews; another to the whole World at the great

day of Doom: and that the former is indeed Typical of the latter: and so they have a double completion; the first in the destru∣ction of Jerusalem and the Jewish Polity: In reference to which, it is truly said, This ge∣neration shall not pass away till all these things be fulfilled. The second in the final Dissolution of the World, which is yet to come.

But to proceed, Another place which is usually understood of the Dissolution of the World by fire, is 2 Thess. 1.7, 8. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heave•• with his mighty Angels in flaming fire, &c▪ Other parallel places may be seen, Rev. 6▪ 12, 13, 14. Rev. 10.6. Rev. 21.1. And •• saw a new Heaven and a new Earth, for the first Heaven and the first Earth were passe•• away, and there was no more Sea, Heb. 12▪ 26, 27. These places speak more directly of the Dissolution of the World, and th•• coming of Christ to Judgment. Others ther•• are that speak only concerning the time o•• it, 1 Pet. 4.7. But the end of all things is a•• hand. James 5.9. Behold the Judge standet•• before the door. 1 John 2.18. Little chil¦dren it is the last time; or as some translat•• it, the last hour, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. Heb. 10.37▪ Yet a little while, and he that shall come, wil•• come, and will not tarry. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉

Luke 18.17. I tell you he will avenge them speedily. All these places the fore-mentioned Dr. Hammond still applies to that famous Pe∣riod of the destruction of the City, Temple and Polity of the Jews: and in conclusion hath left us but one place in the New Testa∣ment, to prove the general Conflagration of the World, viz. 2 Pet. 7.7.

Now because some have been offended at these Interpretations of his; others have spoken very flightingly of them: I shall briefly sum up what hath been alleged in de∣fence of them, by this great man.

1. That the Prophets use to set down their Predictions in Tropes and Figures, and not in plain expressions, (their Style being Poetical). And therefore in describing those hideous Judgments which fell upon that people of the Jews, beyond all that ever before fell upon them, or indeed any other people, they found it necessary to employ those High and Tragical Phrases of the passing away and dissolving Heaven, and Earth, and Ele∣ments. And that this was the manner of the Prophets, may be proved; because we find the destruction of other places descri∣bed in as High Strains, as Lofty and Tra∣gical Expressions as this of Jerusalem. For example, that of Idumaea, Esay 34.9. The streams thereof shall be turned into pitch, and

the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch. It shall not be quenched night nor day, the smoke thereof shall go up for ever. And in the 4th Verse he seems but to Preface to this De∣struction in these words, And all the host of Heaven shall be dissolved, and the Heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their hosts shall fall down as the leaf falleth off from the Vine, and as a falling Fig from the Fig tree; For my Sword shall be bathed in Heaven: Behold it shall come down upon Idumaea. And in the Burden of Babylon. Chap. 13.8, 9. we have these words, Behold the day of the Lord Cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger to lay the Land desolate: For the Stars of Heaven and the constellations there∣of shall not give their light: The Sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the Moon shall not cause her light to shine.

2. All the Predictions in that famous place, Matth. 24. to which all other places in the New Testament relating to this mat∣ter are parallel, are by our Saviour himself restrained to the destruction of Jerusalem, and the full completion of them limited to the duration of that Age: Verse 34. Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled. What rea∣son then can we have to extend them fur∣ther;

3. In most of the places where this com∣ing of Christ is mentioned, it is spoken of as near, and at hand; as in the places last cited. Now, (saith the Learned Doctor) in his Note upon Luke 18.7. I tell you he will avenge them speedily: All which if (when it is said to approach and to be at the door) it belonged to the Day of Judgment (now after so many hundred years not yet come) what a 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 were this? what a de∣laying of his coming? and consequently, what an Objection against the truth of the Christian Religion? As Mahomet having promised after his death he would presently return to life, and having not performed his Promise in a thousand years is by us justly condemned as an Impostor.

3. That this place of S. Peter, out of which I have taken my Text, doth not be∣long to the end of the World sufficiently appears (saith he) by the purport of this whole Epistle, which is to arm them with constancy and perseverance till that Day come, and particularly in this Chapter to confute them who object against the truth of Christs Predictions, and resolve it should not come at all; against whom he here op∣poses the certainty, the speediness, and the teribleness of its Coming. And for that other famous Place, 2 Thessal. 1.8, 9. that

it belongs to the same Period; see how he makes out in his Annotations.

I shall now superadd some places out of the Old Testament, which seem to speak of the Dissolution of the World, Job 14.12. Man lieth down and riseth not till the Heavens be no more. Psalm 102.5, 6. quoted Heb. 1.10, 11. Of old hast thou laid the foundati∣ons of the Earth, and the Heavens are the works of thy hands. They shall perish but thou remainest; and they all shall wax old as doth a garment, and as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed. Esay 34.4. And all the host of Heaven shall be dissolved, and the Heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their host shall fall down as a leaf falleth from the Vine, &c. Esay 51.6. The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the Earth shall wax old like a garment. Joel 2.31. The Sun shall be turned into dark∣ness, and the Moon into blood, before that great and terrible day of the Lord comes. Malachi 4.1. Behold the day cometh that shall burn like an Oven, &c. Deut 32, 22. For a fire is kindled in my anger, and shall burn to the lowest Hell, and shall consume the Earth with her encrease, and set on fire the foundations of the Mountains. I must confess that the Prophetick Books are full of figurative Expressions, being written in

a Poetick Style, and according to the strain of the Oriental Rhetorick, which is much different from the Euporean, affecting lofty and turned Metaphors and excessive Hyper∣bola's and Aggravations, which would either sound harsh to our Ears, or import a great deal more to us than they did to them. This is obvious to any one that reads their Books; and may clearly be demonstrated from the Titles that their Kings assumed to themselves as well Anciently as lately, viz. Sons of the Sun, Brethren of the Sun and Moon, Partners of the Stars, Lions Crown∣ed in the Throne of the World, Endued with the strength of the whole Heaven, and Vir∣tue of the Firmament. Now we cannot possibly imagine them so vain as to think themselves literally to be such: no sure, all they meant by these Expressions was that they were great, and honourable, and power∣ful. Now the Prophetick Books of the Old Testament being written in a Style somewhat conformable to the Oratory of those Countreys, are not (I humbly con∣ceive) in every tittle to be so exactly scan∣ned and literally expounded, but so to be interpreted as a Jew or an Asiatick would then have understood them. And this I ra∣ther think, because there be divers passages in the Prophets, which cannot be verified in

strict literal sense; As in the place before quoted, Esay 34.9. It is said of the streams of Idumaea that should be turned into Pitch, and the dust thereof into Brimstone; and the Land thereof should become burning Pitch; and should not be quenched night nor day, but the smoke thereof should go up for ever. And of the City of Tyre it is said Ezek. 26.14. It shall be built no more. And verse 19. When I shall make thee a desolate City like the Cities that are not inhabited, when I shall bring up the Deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee. And verse 21. which is thrice repeated, I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, thou shalt never be found again, saith the Lord God. And yet we see that the City of Tyre, though it was in∣deed wholly dispeopled at that time, the Inhabitants transferring themselves into A∣frica, when it was besieged by Nebuchad∣nezzar; yet was it afterward peopled again, and continues a City inhabited to this day. And of Babylon, it is said that there should none remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it should be desolate for ever. Jer. 51.62. Esay 13.20. and of the Land of Babylon, Verse 29. that it should be a de∣solation without an Inhabitant. And though indeed this Prophesy was I think as to

the City at last verified in the Letter; yet did Babylon long continue a great City af∣ter this Paraphrase: And the Land of Ba∣bylon is now inhabited, there being at this day a great City not far from the place where Babylon stood. So that these places import no more, then that there should be a very great Destruction and Devastation of those Cities and Countries. As for those places in the Old and New Testament, where∣in mention is made of the last Days and the last Times, it is clear that they are to be understood of the Age of the Messiah, all the time from the Exibition of the Mes∣siah to the end of the World, Esay 2.1▪ And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the Mountain of the Lords house shall be established in the top of the Mountains, and shall be exalted above the Hills, and all Na∣tions shall flow to it; which very words we have repeated Michah 4.1. So that Pro∣phesie of Joel 2.28. quoted Acts 2.17. And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, &c. is to be understood. Hence the last Days have among the Jews proverbially signified the days of the Messiah, as Doctor Hammon in his Annotations upon this place tells us; who also Notes, that in that place of Joel, the last days do literally signifie

the last days of the Jews, immediately pre∣ceding their destruction, called there the Great and terrible Day of the Lord. So Heb. 1.2. by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, in these last days is meant the days of the Messias. So 1 Pe•• 1.20. 2 Pet. 3.3. 1 Tim. 4.1. 2 Tim. 3.1▪ mention is made of the last days in this sense In like manner the end of the World, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Heb. 9.26. But now onc•• in the end of the World hath he appeared t•• put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself. An•• 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 the Ends of the World, i•• 1 Cor. 10.11. Ʋpon whom the ends of th•• World are come, signifie the Age of the Mes¦sias, though indeed the former seems mor•• peculiarly to denote the shutting up of th•• Jewish Age or Oeconomy.