Chapter VIII: Book III: Concerning the CONFLAGRATION (6)

It may be, you will confess, that these are great Arguments, that the Author of our Religion was a divine Person, and had supernatural Powers: But withal, that there are so many Difficulties in Christian Religion, and so many Things unintelligible, that a rational Man knows not how to believe it, though he be inclined to admire the Person of Jesus Christ. I answer, if they be such Difficulties as are made only by the Schools and disputacious Doctors, you are not to trouble your self about them, for they are of no Authority: But if they be in the very Words of Scripture, then ’tis either in Things practical, or in Things merely speculative. As to the Rules of Practice in Christian Religion, I do not know any Thing in Scripture obscure or unintelligible; and as to Speculations, great Discretion and Moderation is to be used in the Conduct of them. If these Matters of Fact, which we have alledged, prove the Divinity of the Revelation, keep close to the Words of that Revelation, asserting no more than it asserts, and you cannot err: But if you will expatiate, and determine Modes, and Forms, and Consequences, you may easily be puzled by your own Forwardness. For besides some Things that are in their own Nature infinite and incomprehensible, there are many other Things in Christian Religion, that are incompleatly revealed; the full Knowledge whereof, it has pleased God to reserve to another Life, and to give us only a summary Account of them at present. We have so much Deference for any Government, as not to expect that all their Counsels and Secrets should be made known to us, nor to censure every Action, whose Reasons we do not fully comprehend; much more in the providential Administration of a World, we must be content to know so much of the Counsels of Heaven and of supernatural Truths, as God has thought fit to reveal to us. And if these Truths be no otherwise than in a general Manner, summarily and incompletely revealed in this Life, as commonly they are, we must not therefore throw off the Government, or reject the whole Dispensation; of whose divine Authority we have otherways full Proof, and satisfactory Evidence: For this would be, to lose the Substance in catching at a Shadow.

But Men that live continually in the Noise of the World, amidst Business, and Pleasures, their Time is commonly shar’d betwixt those two, so that little or nothing is left for Meditation; at least, not enough for such Meditations as require Length, Justness, and Order. They should retire from the Crowd for one Month or two, to study the Truth of Christian Religion, if they have any Doubt of it. They retire sometimes to cure a Gout, or other Disease, and diet themselves according to Rule; but they will not be at that Pains, to cure a Disease of the Mind, which is of far greater, and more fatal Consequence. If they perish by their own Negligence or Obstinacy, the Physician is not to blame. Burning is the last Remedy in some Distempers; and they would do well to remember, that the World will flame about their Heads one of these Days; and whether they be amongst the Living, or amongst the Dead, at that Time, the Apostle makes them a Part of the Fewel, which that fiery Vengeance will prey upon. Our Saviour hath been true to his Word hitherto; whether in his Promises, or in his Threatnings. He promis’d the Apostles to send down the Holy Ghost upon them after his Ascension, and that was fully accomplish’d: He foretold, and threaten’d the Destruction of _Jerusalem_; and that came to pass accordingly, soon after he had left the World: And he hath told us also, that he will come again in _the Clouds of Heaven, Matt. xxiv. 30. with Power and great Glory_; and, _xxv. 32._ _&c._ and that will be to judge the World. _When the Son of Man shall come in his Glory, and all the holy Angels with him, then shall he sit upon the Throne of his Glory: and before him shall be gathered all Nations_; and he will separate the Good from the Bad; and to the Wicked and Unbelievers he will say, _Ver. 41._ _Depart from me, ye Cursed, into everlasting Fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels._ This is the same Coming, and the same Fire, with that which we mention’d before out of St. _Paul_, _2 Thess. i. 7, 8, 9_; as you will plainly see, if you compare Saint _Matthew_’s Words with Saint _Paul’s_, which are these, _When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven, with his mighty Angels, in flaming Fire, taking Vengeance on them that know not God, and that hearken not to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punish’d with everlasting Destruction, from, or by, the Presence of the Lord, and the Glory of his Power_. This, methinks, should be an awakening Thought, that there is such a Threatning upon Record (by one who never yet failed in his Word) against those that do not believe his Testimony. Those that reject him now as a Dupe, or an Impostor, run a Hazard of seeing him hereafter coming in the Clouds to be their Judge. And it will be too late then to correct their Error, when the bright Armies of Angels fill the Air, and the Earth begins to melt at the Presence of the Lord.

Thus much concerning those three Ranks of Men, whom the Apostle Saint _Paul_ seems to point at principally, and condemn to the Flames. But, as I said before, the rest of Sinners, and vicious Persons, amongst the Professors of Christianity, though they are not so directly the Enemies of God, as these are; yet being Transgressors of his Law, they must expect to be brought to Justice. In every well-govern’d State, not only Traitors and Rebels that offend more immediately against the Person of the Prince; but all others, that notoriously violate the Laws, are brought to condign Punishment, according to the Nature and Degree of their Crime: So in this Case, _The Fire shall try every Man’s Work, of what Sort it is_. ’Tis therefore the Concern of every Man, to reflect often upon that Day, and to consider what his Fate and Sentence is likely to be, at that last Trial. The _Jews_ have a Tradition, that _Elias_ sits in Heaven, and keeps a Register of all Mens Actions, good or bad. He hath his Under-Secretaries for the several Nations of the World, that take Minutes of all that passes; and so hath the History of every Man’s Life before him, ready to be produc’d at the Day of Judgment. I will not vouch for the literal Truth of this, but it is true in Effect: Every Man’s Fate shall be determined that Day, according to the History of his Life; according to the Works done in the Flesh, whether good or bad. And, therefore, it ought to have as much Influence upon us, as if every single Action was formally register’d in Heaven.

If Men would learn to contemn this World, it would cure a great many Vices at once. And, methinks, St. _Peter_’s Argument, from the approaching Dissolution of all Things, should put us out of Conceit with such perishing Vanities. Lust and Ambition are the two reigning Vices of great Men; and those little Fires might be soon extinguished, if they would frequently and seriously meditate on this last and universal Fire, which will put an End to all Passions, and all Contentions. As to Ambition, the Heathens themselves made use of this Argument, to abate and repress the vain Affectation of Glory and Greatness in this World. I told you before, the Lesson that was given to _Scipio Africanus_, by his Uncle’s Ghost, upon this Subject: And upon a like Occasion and Consideration, _Cæsar_ hath a Lesson given him by _Lucan_, after the Battle of _Pharsalia_; where _Pompey_ lost the Day, and _Rome_ its Liberty. The Poet says, _Cæsar_ took Pleasure in looking upon the dead Bodies, and would not suffer them to be buried, or, which was their Manner of burying, to be burnt: Whereupon he speaks to him in these Words.

_Hos, CÆSAR, populos si nunc non usserit Ignis,
Uret cum Terris, uret com gurgite Ponti.
Communis mundo superest rogus, Ossibus astra
Misturus. Quocunque Tuam Fortuna vocabit,
Hæ quoque eunt Animæ; non altius ibis in auras,
Non meliore loco Stygia sub nocte jacebis.
Libera fortuna Mors est: Capit omnia Tellus
Quæ genuit; Cœlo tegitur qui non habet urnam._

CÆSAR,
_If now these Bodies want their Pile and Urn,
At last, with the whole Globe, they’re sure to burn.
The World expects one general Fire: And Thou
Must go, where these poor Souls are wand’ring now.
Thou’lt reach no higher, in the ethereal Plain,
Nor ’mongst the Shades a better Place obtain.
Death levels all: And he that has not Room
To make a Grave, Heaven’s Vault shall be his Tomb._

These are mortifying Thoughts to ambitious Spirits. And surely our own Mortality, and the Mortality of the World itself, may be enough to convince all considering Men, that _Vanity of Vanities, all is Vanity under the Sun_; any otherwise than as they relate to a better Life.

_FINIS._

THE THEORY OF THE EARTH.

Containing an Account of the Original of the Earth,

And of all the

GENERAL CHANGES

Which it hath already undergone, or is to
undergo, till the CONSUMMATION
of all Things.

The FOURTH BOOK,

_Concerning the New Heavens, and New Earth,
AND
Concerning the Consummation of all Things._

_LONDON_:
Printed for J. HOOKE, in _Fleet-Street_.