only before, but even after the true Refur rection, is not merely an Inference from fome obfcure and more mystical Paffages; but from, the general Stream and Current of the Scriptures; not indeed upon Earth in the present degenerate State of it, but in the Earth renew'd and purgid from every Curfe, and fuch as is not confin'd to the Term of a 1000 Years, but may continue for ought we know to all Eternity, neither fubject to any Invafions from Gog's or Magog's, or any Satanick Attempts whatsoever. The Words of St. Peter, are so clear in this Cafe, that it is impoffible for us to fix any Senfe on them, without involving ourselves in a Labyrinth of Difficulties, that we shall find it very hard to get out of.

"The Adverfaries of this Opinion," fays Dr. Burnet, [State of the Dead, pag. 260.] "convert into Allegories whatever has been faid by the Prophets concerning this new Heaven, and this new Earth, and fo pretend to elude it; but the forefaid Difcourfe of St. Peter about these fame new Heavens and new Earth, can by no Strength of human Understanding, and no human Art, be refolv'd into Allegories, or wrested from the literal Senfe. It is exprefly ordain'd, and industriously instituted, to fhew the mutable Nature of Things, and a fucceflive three

fold

fold World; I mean the natural World, concerning which the Difpute was with thofe Scoffers. And it is remarkable, that by the Words Heaven and Earth, the He brews understood the vifible World, or the Nature of Things. But let us, if you please, take a View of the Words of the Apostle, relating to this Matter. [ii Pet. 3, 11, 12, 13.] Seeing then that all thefe Things shall be dif folv'd, what Manner of Perfons ought we to be in all boly Converfation and Godliness; looking for, and bafting unto the Coming of the Day of God, wherein the Heavens being on Fire, jhall be diffoby'd, and the Elements fhall melt with fervent Heat. Nevertheless we, according to bis Promife, look for new Heavens, and a new Earth, wherein dwelleth Righteousness.

There are feveral Things in this Difcourfe of the Apostle, which compar'd with what precedes it, plainly discover, that the Words new Heaven and new Earth, are confin'd in their Signification to the vifible and natural World: First, the Force, the Ufe, and the Signification of the fame Words, or of the fame Phrafcology, in the Verfes that are antecedent to it Secondly, the very Form; Structure, and Context of the Speech, by which this Renovation is exprefs'd; and, laftly, the Time of which it relates. All thefe are fo many Witneffes, which prove

that

that the Apostle here speaks of material and real, and not imaginary and allegorical Earth and Heavens. As for the firft Proof of this, the fame Diction, or the fame Manner of Speaking, no less than twice occurs to us in this very Chapter. In the fifth Verse of it we have, the Earth and the Heavens which formerly were, or which are past, that is to fay, the antediluvian World. In the feventh Verse we have, the Earth and the Heavens which now are, that is, which are present to us, or the Poft-diluvian World. Laftly, in the thirteenth Verfe we find, the new Hea vens, and new Earth, that are to come, that is, after the Conflagration. But now fince, by the Consent of all, the Heavens and the Earth, both in the fifth and the feventh Verfe, are to be understood literally of the material and natural Frame and Structure of the Earth and Heavens, I would fain know by what Right, or by what Rule of interpreting, we can be justify'd in wresting of the very fame Words, or the very fame Expreffion, in the fame Chapter, in the fame Context, in the Continuation of the fame Argument, to a foreign Signification? So that by the first and fecond Paffage, we understand the natural World; but a figurative and allegorical World by the third Paffage, and this without the leaft Mark

from

from the Author, that he has chang'd his Style, or the least Neceffity on the Part of the fubject Matter.

But now Secondly, the Form of this Difcourfe, and the Manner by which it is coherent with, and dependent on what precides it, both equally teftfy the fame Thing. After the Apostle had defcrib'd the Burning of the prefent World, he adds, But, or nevertheless we expect new Heavens, and a new Earth. He fubftitutes thefe new Heavens and this new Earth in the Room of those that were burnt and perifh'd, these then must be of the fame Kind with those that perish'd, that is to fay, material, and not allegorical; which is the fame Thing as if the Apostle had faid, tho' I prefent Heavens and the present Earth must one Day perish, as we have already explain'd to you; yet here will not be an abfolute End, (which perhaps you fufpect,) but only a Renovation of all Things; for we expect, according to the Promise which we have receiv'd from God, that other Heavens, and another Earth, in which the Righteous fhall dwell, will fucceed those which are now. thirdly and lastly, fince this new. World, or this Renovation, be it what it will, is not to appear till after the general Conflagration, we may certainly infer from the Time, that

But

by

by this Renovation cannot be understood any evangelical Renovation, (as our alle gorical Adverfaries are pleas'd to affert,) or any other in this Life. And these Arguments, unless I am miftaken, prove unanfwerably, that the Heavens and Earth, in this Difcourfe of the Apostle, are to be taken, according to the genuine Force of the Words, and the manifeft Nature of the Thing.".

Y

OU have heard, fays THEOPHILUS, the Arguments of Dr. Burnet, for understanding St. Peter's new Heaven and Earth, in the most obvious and literal Senfe of them: and fo far as this, I believe, must allow that he argues juftly. But when he comes to apply thefe Things to his Millennium, he is then obliged to produce Gog and Magog out of the Mud, which makes the whole but a muddy Hypothefis. Others again, on the contrary, are for only a moral Change: here, and that all that is meant by this new. Earth and Heavens, has only regard to the Few's Refloration, or to their Converfion towards the End of the World, and the flowing in of all Nations unto them: or that these new Heavens and Earth mean only the Gospel State, in either a lower, as now, or