[ 1234] How it is, that at the second comming of Christ to Judg∣ment, the frame of the World shall not be consumed, but repairednew.
AS when that gold or silver is cast into the furnace,* 1.1 and so tryed in the fire, the substance remaineth, but the drosse is that which onely perisheth: So in the last day, the fire of the Iudgment shall consume and abolish the corruptible and drossy quality of the Creature, but the substance (being subtilized and re∣fined) shall abide and continue.* 1.2 What though that 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the fashion of the world passe, and be skowred away, by the fire of that ge∣nerall conflagration; yet the matter and substance shall remain: The hea∣vens indeed shall passe away with a noise or rushing, or shrink together like a skroul of parchment; the Elements like lead, shall melt with heat, and the earth with the works that are therein, shall be burnt up. Yet the World shall not be consumed to nothing,* 1.3 but onely trans-changed into a new form, and converted to a Sabbaticall and better use. God, out of the very ashes of it, will produce a new world, even a new Heaven and a new Earth, wherein shall dwell righteousnesse, 1 Pet. 3. 13.