SO much for Natural Evidence, from the Causes or Effects. We now proceed to Scripture, which will make the greatest part of this Review. The Sacred Basis upon which the whole Theory stands, is the doctrine of St. Peter, deliver’d in his Second Epistle and Third Chapter, concerning the Triple Order and Succession of the Heavens and the Earth. That comprehends the whole extent of our Theory: which indeed is but a large Commentary upon St. Peter's Text. The Apostle sets out a threefold state of the Heavens and Earth: with some
4. And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God, the heavens were of old, and the earth consisting of water and by water.
6. Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.
7. But the heavens and the earth that are now, by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment, and perdition of ungodly men. . . . . .
10. The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat; the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burnt up.
13. Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
This is the whole Discourse so far as relates to our Subject. St. Peter, you see, had met with some that scoff’d at the future destruction of the World, and the coming of our Saviour; and they were men, it seems, that pretended to Philosophy and Argument; and they use this argument for their opinion, Seeing there hath been no change in Nature, or in the World, from the beginning to this time, why should we think there will be any change for the future?
The Apostle answers to this, That they willingly forget or are ignorant that there were Heavens of old, and an Earth, so and so constituted; consisting of Water and by Water; by reason whereof that World, or those Heavens and that Earth, perish’d in a Deluge of Water. But, saith he, the Heavens and the Earth that are now, are of another constitution, fitted and reserved to another fate, namely to perish by Fire. And after these are perish’d, there will be New Heavens and a New Earth, according to God's promise.
This is an easie Paraphrase, and the plain and genuine sence of the Apostle's discourse; and no body, I think, would ever look after any other sence, if this did not draw them into paths they do not know, and to conclusions which they do not fancy. This sence, you see, hits the objection directly, or the Cavil which these scoffers made; and tells them, that they vainly pretend that there hath been no change in the World since the beginning, for there was one sort of Heavens and Earth before the Flood, and another sort now; the first having been destroyed at the Deluge. So that the Apostle's argument stands upon this Foundation, That there is a diversity betwixt the present Heavens and Earth, and the Ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth; take away that, and you take away all the force of his Answer.
This, I think, would be enough to satisfie any clear and free mind concerning the meaning of the Apostle; but because I desire to give as full a light to this place as I can, and to put the sence of it out of controversie, if possible, for the future, I will make some further remarks to confirm this exposition.
And we may observe that several of those reasons which we have given to prove, That the Natural World is understood by St. Peter, are double reasons; and do also prove the other point in question, a diversity betwixt the two Natural Worlds, the Anti-diluvian and the present. As for instance, unless you admit this diversity betwixt the two natural Worlds, you make the 5th verse in this Chapter superfluous and useless: and you must suppose the Apostle to make an inference here without premises. In the 6th verse he makes an inference, 2 Whereby the World, that then was, perish’d in a Deluge; what does this whereby relate to? by reason of what? sure of the particular constitution of the Heavens and the Earth immediately before describ’d. Neither would it have signified any thing to the Scoffers, for the Apostle to have told them how the Ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth were constituted, if they were constituted just in the same manner as the present.
Besides, what is it, as I ask’d before, that the Apostle tells these Scoffers they were ignorant of? does he not say formally and expresly (ver. 5.) that they were ignorant that the Heavens and the Earth were constituted so and so, before the Flood? but if they were constituted as these present Heavens and Earth are, they were not ignorant of their constitution; nor did pretend to be ignorant, for their own (mistaken) argument supposeth it.
But before we proceed any further, give me leave to note the impropriety of our Translation, in the 5th. Verse, or latter part of it; Ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ δἰ ὑδάτων (vel δἰ ὕδατος) συνεϛῶσα, This we translate standing in the water, and out of
The Translation being thus rectified, you see the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth consisted of Water, and by water; which makes way for a second observation to prove our sence of the Text; for if you admit no diversity betwixt those Heavens and Earth, and the present, shew us ’pray how the present Heavens and Earth consist of water, and by water. What watery constitution have they? The Apostle implies rather, that The now Heavens and Earth have a fiery constitution. We have now Meteors of all sorts in the air, winds, hail, snow, lightning, thunder, and all things engender’d of fiery exhalations, as well as we have rain; but according to our Theory, the ante-diluvian Heavens, of all these Meteors had none but dews and rain, or watery Meteors onely; and therefore might very aptly be said by the Apostle to be constituted of water, or to have a watery σύϛασις. Then the Earth was said to consist by water, because it was built upon it, and at first was sustain’d by it. And when such a Key as this is put into our hands, that does so easily unlock this hard passage, and makes it intelligible, according to the just force of the words, why should we pertinaciously adhere to an interpretation, that neither agrees with the words, 2 nor makes any sence that is considerable?
Thirdly, If the Apostle had made the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth the same with the present, his apodosis in the 7th. Verse, should not have beenὅι δε νῦν οὐρανοὶ, but καὶ οἱ ἀυτοὶ οὐρανοὶ καὶ ἡ γῆ τεθησαυρισμένοι εἰσί, &c. I say, it should not have been by way of antithesis, but of identity or continuation; And the same Heavens and Earth are kept in store reserv’d unto fire, &c. Accordingly we see the Apostle speaks thus, as to the Logos, or the Word of God, Verse 7. τῷ ἀυτοῷ λόγῳ, by the same Word of God; where the thing is the same, he expresseth it as the same; And if it had been the same Heavens and Earth, as well as the same Word of God, Why should he use a mark of opposition for the one, and of identity for the other? to this I do not see what can be fairly answer’d.
If you say there was nothing of natural tendency or disposition in either World to their respective fate, but the first might as well have perish’d by fire, as water, and this by water as by fire, you unhinge all Nature and natural providence in that method, and contradict one main scope of the Apostle in this discourse. His first scope is to assert, and mind them of that diversity there was betwixt the ancient Heavens and Earth, and the present; and from that, to prove against those Scoffers, that there had been a change and revolution in Nature; And his second scope seems to be this, to show that diversity to be such, as, under the Divine conduct, leads to a different fate, and expos’d that World to a Deluge; for when he had describ’d the constitution of the first Heavens and Earth, he subjoyns, δἰ ὧν ὃ τοτε κόσμος ὕδατι κατακλυσθεὶς ἀπόλετο. Quià talis erat, saith Grotius, qualem diximus, constitutio & Terra & Cœli. WHEREBY the then World perish’d in a Flood of Water. This whereby notes some kind of causal dependance, and must relate to some means or conditions precedent. It cannot relate to Logos, or the Word of God, Grammar will not permit that; therefore it must relate to the state of the ante-diluvian Heavens and Earth immediately premis’d. And to what purpose indeed should he premise the description of those Heavens and Earth, if it was not to lay a ground for this inference?
Having given these Reasons for the necessity of this Interpretation; in the last place, let's consider St. Austin's judgment, and his sence upon this place, as to the point in question. As also the reflections that some other of the Ancients have made upon this doctrine of St. Peter's. Didymus Alexandrinus, who was for some time St. Jerome's Master, made such a severe reflection upon it, that he said this Epistle was corrupted, and should not be admitted into the Canon, because it taught the doctrine of a Triple or Triform World in this third Chapter. As you may see in his Enarr. in Epist. Canonicas. Now this threefold World is first that in the 6th Verse, The World that then was. In the 7th. Verse, The Heavens and the Earth, that are now. And in the 13th. Verse, We expect new Heavens and a new Earth, according to his promise. This seems to be a fair account that St. Peter taught the doctrine of a triple World; And I quote this testimony, to show what St. Peter's words do naturally import, even in the judgment of one that was not of his mind. And a Man is not prone to make an exposition against his own Opinion, unless he think the words very pregnant and express.
But St. Austin owns the authority of this Epistle, and of this doctrine, as deriv’d from it, taking notice of this Text of St. Peter's in several Parts of his Works. We have noted three or four places already to this purpose, and we may further take notice of several passages in his Treatise, de Civ. Dei, which confirm our exposition. In his 10th. Book, ch. 24. he disputes against Porphyry, who had the same Principles with these Æternalists in the Text; or, if I may so call them, Incorruptarians; and thought the World never had, nor ever would undergo any change, especially as to the Heavens. St. Austin could not urge Porphyry
Thus you see, we have St. Austin on our side, in both parts of our interpretation; that St. Peter's discourse is to be referr’d to the natural inanimate World, and that the present natural World is distinct and different from that which was before the Deluge. And St. Austin having applyed this expresly to St. Peter's doctrine by way of Commentary, it will free us from any crime or affectation of singularity in the exposition we have given of that place.
Venerable Bede hath followed St. Austin's footsteps in this doctrine; for, interpreting St. Peter's Original World (Αρχαῖος Κόσμος) 2 Pet. 2. 5. he refers both that and this (chap. 3. 6.) to the natural inanimate World, which he supposeth to have undergone a change at the Deluge. His words are these, idem ipse mundus est (nempe quoad materiam) in uqo nunc humanum genus habitat, quem inhabitaverunt hi qui ante diluvium fuerunt, sed tamen rectè Originalis Mundus, quasi alius, dicitur; quia sicut in consequentibus hujus Epistolæ scriptum continetur, Ille tune mundus aquâ inundatus periit. Cœlis videlicet qui erant priùs, id est, cunctis aeris hujus turbulenti spaciis, aquarum accrescentium altitudine consumptis, ac Terrâ in alteram faciem, excedentibus aquis, immutatâ. Nam etsi montes aliqui atque convalles ab initio facti creduntur, non tamen tanti quanti nunc in orbe cernuntur universo. ’Tis the same World (namely, as to the matter and substance of it) which mankind lives in now, and did live in before the Flood, but yet that is truly call’d the ORIGINAL WORLD, being as it were another from the present. For ’tis said in the sequel of this Epistle that the World that was then, perish’d in the Deluge; namely, the regions of the air were consumed by the height and excess of the waters, and by the same waters the Earth was chang’d into another form or face. For although some Mountains and Valleys are thought to have been made from the beginning, yet not such great ones as now we see throughout the whole Earth.
You see this Author does not only own a change made at the Deluge, but offers at a further explication wherein that change consisted, viz. that the Mountains and inequalities of the Earth were made greater than they were before the Flood; and so he makes the change or the difference betwixt the two Worlds gradual, rather than specifical, if I may so term it. But we cannot wonder at that, if he had no principles to carry it further, or to make any other sort of change intelligible to him. Bede also pursues the same sence and notion in his interpretation of that fountain, Gen. 2. 5. that watered the face of the Earth before the Flood. And many other transcribers of Antiquity have recorded this Tradition concerning a difference, gradual or specifical, both in the Ante-diluvian heavens (Gloss. Ordin. Gen. 9. de Iride. Lyran. ibid. Hist. Scholast: c. 35. Rab. Maurus &
We need say no more, as to the Ante-diluvian Heavens: but as to the Earth, we must now, according to the second Part of the first Head; enquire, If that Particular Form, which we have assign’d it before the Flood, be agreeable to Scripture. You know how we have describ’d the Form and situation of that Earth: namely, that it was built over the Abyss, as a regular Orb, covering and incompassing the waters round about: and founded, as it were, upon them. There are many passages of Scripture that favour this description: Some more expresly, others upon a due explication. To this purpose there are two express Texts in the Psalms: as Psal. 24. 1, 2. The Earth is the Lords, and the fulness thereof: The habitable World, and they that dwell therein. FOR he has founded it upon 1 the Seas, and establish’d it upon the Floods. An Earth founded upon the
But yet it may be thought a just, if not a necessary appendix to this discourse, concerning the form of the ante-diluvian Earth, to give an account also of the ante-diluvian Abyss, and the situation of it according to Scripture; for the relation which these two have to one another, will be a further means to discover if we have rightly determin’d the form of that Earth. The Abyss or Tehom-Rabbah is a Scripture notion, and the word is not us’d, that I know of, in that distinct and peculiar sence in Heathen Authors. ’Tis plain that in Scripture it is
Thus you have already a threefold state of the Abyss, which makes a short History of it; first, Open, at the beginning; then covered, till the Deluge. Then broke open again, as it is at present. And we pursue the History of it no further; but we are told, Apoc. 20. 3. That it shall be shut up again, and the great Dragon in it, for a Thousand years. In the mean time we may observe from this form and posture of the Ante-diluvian Abyss, how suitable it is and coherent with that form of the Ante-diluvian Earth which St. Peter and the Psalmist had describ’d, sustain’d by the waters; founded upon the waters; strecht above the waters; for if it was the cover of this Abyss (and it had some cover that was broke at the Deluge) it was spread as a Crust or Ice upon the face of those waters, and so made an orbis Terrarum, an habitable sphere of Earth about the Abyss.
389:1 There was a Sect amongst the Jews that held this perpetuity and immutability of Nature; and Maimonides himself was of this principle, and gives the same reason for it with the Scoffers here in the Text, Quod mundus retinet & sequitur consuetudinem suam. And as to those of the Jews that were Aristoteleans, it was very suitable to their principles to hold the incorruptibility of the World, as their Master did. Vid. Med. in loc.
392:1 δὲ
392:2 δἰ ὧν, per que. Vulgat. Quamobrem, Beza. Quâ de causâ, Grot. Nemo interpretum reddidit δἰ ὧν per quas; subintelligendo aquas. Hoc enim argumentationem Apostolicana tolleret, supponeretque illusores illos ignorâsse quod olim fuerit Diluvium; Quod supponi non posse supra ostendimus.
393:1 This phrase or manner of speech συνιζάναὶ ἐκvel ὄξ is not unusual in Greek Authors, and upon a like subject; Plato saith, τόν δε κόσμον συνιϛάναι ἐκ πυρὲς, ὔδατος, ἄερος, γῖς, but he that should translate Plato, The world stands out of fire, water, &c. would be thought neither Græcian, nor Philosopher. The same phrase is us’d in reciting Heraclitus his opinion, τὰ πάντα ἐκ πυρὸς συνεϛὰναι, καὶ οίς τοῦτο ἀναλὶεως. And also in Thales his, which is still nearer to the subject, ἐκ τοῦ ὔδατός, φηοι, συνιζάναι πάντα, which Cicero renders, ex aquâ, dixit, constare omnia. So that it is easie to know the true importance of this phrase, and how ill it is render’d in the English, standing out of the water.
393:2 Whether you refer the words ὄξ ὔδατ. καὶ δἰ ὔδατ. separately, to the Heavens and the Earth, or both to the Earth, or both to both, it will make no great difference as to our interpretation.
398:1 I know some would make this place of no effect by rendering the Hebrew particle על juxta, by or near to; so they would read it thus, He hath founded the Earth by the Sea-side, and establish’d it by the Floods. What is there wonderful in this, that the shores should lie by the Sea-side; Where could they lie else? What reason or argument is this, why the Earth should be the Lord's?