Three physico-theological discourses ... wherein are largely discussed the production and use of mountains, the original of fountains, of formed stones, and sea-fishes bones and shells found in the earth, the effects of particular floods and inundations of the sea, the eruptions of vulcano's, the nature and causes of earthquakes : with an historical account of those two late remarkable ones in Jamaica and England ... / by John Ray ...

CHAP. X.

How far this Conflagration shall ex∣tend.

6. A Sixth Question is, How far shall this Conflagration extend? Whe∣ther to the Ethereal Heavens, and all the Host of them, Sun, Moon and Stars, or to the Aereal only?

I Answer, If we follow Ancient Tradition not only the Earth, but also the Heavens and heavenly Bodies will be involved in one common Fate, as appears by those Verses quoted out of Lucretius, Ovid, Lucan, &c.

Of Christians some exempt the Ethereal Region from this Destruction: for the two following Reasons, which I shall set down in Reuterus's words. 1. Because in this Chap∣ter the Conflagration is compared to the De∣luge in the time of Noah. But the Deluge extended not to the upper Regions of the Air, much less to the Heavens, the Waters arising only fifteen Cubits above the tops of the Mountains, if so much. Therefore nei∣ther

shall the Conflagration transcend that term. So Beza upon 2 Pet. 3. 6. Tantum ascendet ille ignis quantum aqua altior supra omnes montes. That fire shall ascend as high as the Waters stood above the Mountains. This passage I do not find in the last Editi∣on of his Notes. The ordinary Gloss also upon these words, 2 Thess. 1. 2. In flaming fire rendring vengeance, saith Christum ventu∣rum praecedet ignis in mundo, qui tantum as∣cendet quantum aqua in diluvio. There shall a fire go before Christ when he comes, which shall reach as high as did the Water in the Deluge. And S. Augustine De Civit. Dei lib. 20. cap. 18. Petrus etiam commemorans fa∣ctum ante diluvium, videtur admonuisse quo∣dammodo, quatenus in fine hujus seculi istum mundum periturum esse credamus. Peter also mentioning the Ancient Deluge, seems in a manner to have advised us how far at the con∣summation of time, we are to believe this World shall perish.

But this Argument is of no force, because it is not the Apostle's design in that place to describe the limits of the Conflagration, but only against Scoffers, to shew, that the World should one day perish by fire, as it had of old been destroyed by Water.

2. The second Reason is, Because the Hea∣venly Bodies are not subject to Passion, alte∣ration

or corruption. They can contract no filth, and so need no expurgation by fire.

To this we answer, not in the words of Reuter, but our own, That it is an idle and ill grounded conceit of the Peripateticks, That the Heavenly Bodies are of their own nature incorruptible and unalterable: for on the contrary it is demonstrable, that many of them are of the same nature with the Earth we live upon, and the most pure, as the Sun, and probably too the fixt Stars, suffer Alterations; maculoe or opaque Con∣cretions being commonly generated and dis∣solved in them. And Comets frequently, and sometimes New Stars appear in the E∣therial Regions. So that these Arguments are insufficient to exempt the Heavens from Dissolution; and on the other side many places there are in Scripture which seem to subject them thereto: As Psal. 102. 25, 26. recited Hebr. 1. 10. which hath already often been quoted, The Heavens are the Works of thy Hands; They shall perish. Matth. 24. 35. Heaven and Earth shall pass away. Isa. 65. 17. & 51. 6. The Heavens shall va∣nish away like smoke. Yet am I not of opi∣nion, that the last Fire shall reach the Hea∣vens; They are too far distant from us to suffer by it: nor indeed doth the Scripture affirm it; but where it mentions the Dissolu∣tion

of the Heavens, it expresseth it by such Phrases as seem rather to intimate, that it shall come to pass by a consenescency and decay, than be effected by any sudden and violent means. Psal. 102. 25, 26. They all shall wax old as doth a Garment, &c. Though I confess nothing of Certainty can be gather∣ed from such Expressions; for we find the same used concerning the Earth; Isa. 51. 6. The Heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the Earth shall wax old as doth a garment. The heavenly Bodies are none of them un∣corruptible and eternal; but may in like manner as the Earth be consumed and de∣stroyed, at what times and by what means, whether Fire or some other Element, the Almighty hath decreed, and ordered.