- I Proceed now to what the Ancient Fathers of the Church and Christian Writers have delivered concerning the Dissolution of the World.
That there should be a Dissolution of this World, and that it shall be by Fire, is so certain and clear among them, that it would be superfluous to cite Particulars to prove it: nay, so general and unanimous is the consent of all Christians in this Point, that, as Origen observes in his third […], and the Learned Doctor Hakewill after him, whereas there can hardly be named any Article of our Faith, which some Hereticks have not presumed to Impugne or call in Question, yet not any to be met with who question this; but herein all agree, being compelled (saith Origen) by the Authority of the Scriptures. As for the time of this Dissolution the ancient Christians held it to be at hand, as might easily be proved by many Testimonies, were it not granted on all hands. And here it may be worth the observing, that the longer the World stood, the further off generally have Christians set the Day of Judgment, and end of it. Many of the Ancients did conceive, that the Dissolution should be at the end of six thousand years. As for Example, Iustin Martyr in Quaest. & Resp. ad Orthodoxos, if he be the Author of that Piece, where this Question (When the end of the World should be?) being put, the Answer is, […], &c. We may rationally conjecture and conclude from many Scripture Expression, that they are in the right who say that the World will last six thousand years. For in one place it saith, In these last days; and in another, Upon whom the Ends of the World are come; and in a third, When the fulness of time was come. Now it is evident that these things were spoken in the sixth Millenary.
Irenaeus adv. haeres. lib. 5. cap. ult. Who gathers so much from the Similitude of the six days Creation, after which six days was the Sabbath, that is, the day of Rest; Hoc autem (saith he) est & praeteritorum narratio, & futurcrum prophetia. Dies enim unus mille annos significabat, sicut Scriptura testatur;1 Mille anni ante Dominum sicut Dies unus: ergo sicut consummatus fuit mundus in sui creatione intra sex dierum spatium, & poslea quies; sic in sui fiue consummabitur intra spatium sex milli[…]m annorum, deinde vera & perpetua quies subsequetur. This is both a Narration or History of what is past, and a Prophesie of things to come. For one day signified a thousand years, as the Scriptures testifie, A thousand years in the sight of God are but as one day. Therefore as the World at the first Creation was consummated in the space of six days, and afterwards followed the Sabbath or Rest; so in the end its duration shall be consummated within the space of six thousand years· and then shall follow the true and perpetual Rest.
To these I might add Lactantius, in his seventh Book of Institur. cap. 14. who useth the same Argument with Iren[…]cus, Ergo quoniam sex diebus cuncta Dei opera perfecta sunt: per secula sex, id est, sex annorum millia manere in hac statu mundum necesse est. Dies enim magnus Dei mille annorum circulo terminatur, sicut indicat Propheta, qui dicit, Ante oculos tuos, Domine, mille anni tanquam dies unus, &c. Therefore because all the works of God were perfected or […]) in six days, it is necessary (or necessarily follows) that the World shall continue in this state six Ages, that is six thousand years. For the great Day of God is terminated in a Circle of six thousand years; as the Prophet intimates, who saith, A thousand years in thy sight, O Lord, are but as one day. S. Augustine l. 20. de Civitate Dei. S. Hieronymus Comment sin Mich. cap. 4 Most clear and full to this purpose is Eustath. in his Comment in Hexa meron […], &c. We reckon (saith he) that the Creation shall continue till the end of the sixth Chiliad, because God also consummated the Vniverse in six days; and I suppose that the Deity doth account days of a thousand years long; for that it is said, A thousand years are in the sight of the Lord as one day. Howbeit the most of them did not propose this Opinion as an undoubted Truth, but only as a modest Conjecture. And S. Austine is very angry with them, who would peremptordy conclude from so flight an Argumentation.
This Conceit is already confuted, and the World hath long outlasted this […], according to their Computation who followed the Septuagint or Greek account, and reckoned that Phaleg lived about the Three thousandth year of the World, and had his Name from his living in the division of Time, there being to come after him Three thousand years, that is, just so many as were past before him.
As concerning the future Condition of the World after the Conflagration, I find it the general and received Opinion of the ancient Christians, that this World shall not be annihilated or destroyed, but only renewed and purified. So Eusebius, […]. The World shall not be wholly destroyed, but renewed. Divers other passages I […] produce out of him to the same purpose: Cyril of Ierusalem Catech. 15. […]. He folds up the […], not that he might destroy them, but that he might rear them up again more beautiful. Again, Cyril upon this place, […], &c. He acutely or ingeniously calls […] death of the Elements their change into letter. So that this Renovation in respect of the Creation shall be such a kind of thing as the Resurrection in reference to Man’s Body. Oecumenius upon this place, He saith, new Heavens and a new Earth, […], yet not different in matter. And again, […]. They shall not be destroyed or annihilated, but only renewed and purified. And upon Revel. 21. 2. […]. This he saith, not denoting the Non-existence of the Creation, but the Renewing. In this manner he expounds Psalm 102. 5, 6. and proceeding, saith, We may here take notice, that the Apostle doth not use the word […], as if the Heaven and Earth were annihilated and brought to nothing, but […], they passed away or removed, or changed state. Saint Hierome upon the Psalms, Psalm 102. saith, Ex quo ostenditur perditionem coelorum non interitum sonare, sed mutationem in melius. From which words [as a Vesture shalt thou change them] may be shewn and made out, that the Dissolution of the Heavens doth not signifie their utter destruction or annihilation, but only their change into a better state. I might add abundance more Testimonies, but these I think may suffice.
← Discourse 3, Chapter 2. The Testimonies of Scripture concerning the Dissolution · Contents · Discourse 3, Chapter 4. The Opinions of the Ancient Heathen Philosophers, and →
Footnotes
-
[…] Pet 3. ↩