Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_400.lzh/D_456.TXT

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456                              OF THE CONFLAGRATION OF THE UNIVERSE.                                                      BOOK VII.

are gathered and burnt in the fire, so shall it be at the
end of the world; the wicked shall be gathered and se-
parated from the righteous, and be cast into a furnace
of fire; and such the world will be when destroyed by
fire, and all the wicked iu it, Matt. xiii. 40, 41, 42, 49,
50. Proof being thus given of the general conflagra-
tion, I proceed,
F.ifthly, To answer some queries relative to it; as
with what sort of fire the world will be burnt ? what
the extent of this burning ? and whether the earth
will be destroyed by it as to its substance, or only as
to its qualities ?
1st, With what sort of fire the world will be burnt ?
Not with fire taken in a figurative, but in a literal
sense; not with metaphorical, but material fire. Fire
is sometimes taken figuratively for the wrath of God,
whose fury is poured forth like fire, Nahum i. 5. see
Psalm xviii. 8. and lxxix. 5. But though the burning
of the world will be the effect of God's wrath against
sinners for their sins, yet that will be executed by
means of material fire: the world will be burnt with
such fire as will come from heaven, and break forth
out of the earth; with such fire from heaven by which
Sodore and Gomorrah, and the cities of the plain were
destroyed; with which Aaron's two sons were con-
sumed; with which the two hundred and fifty men of
Korah's company were destroyed; with which the two
captains, and their fifties, perished, who came to take
the prophet Elijah; of the same sort with that which
fell on Job's sheep, and the servants that kept them,
and killed them; and such as very often flashes from
heaven, and destroys houses, buildings, men, and
cattle: and such fire as breaks out of the earth, of
which various instances have been o-iven, in volcanos,
and other eruptic, ns; and like that which the histo-
rian {} speaks of, which many hundreds of years ago
broke out of the earth in Germany, and burnt towns,
villages, and fields every where, and was with great
difficulty extinguished. So that the world will be de-
stroyed by fire much in the same manner as it was
by water: the flood was brought upon it partly by the
windows of heaven being opened above, which let
down rain; and partly by the fountains of the great
deep being broke up below, which sent fortb great
quantities of water; and both meeting together,
drowned the world: so the stores of fire in the heavens
being opened, and great quantities issuing out of the
bowels of the earth, these joining together will set the
whole world on fire, heavens and earth, and bring on
their speedy dissolution. Some have thought the stars
will have a great influence in this affair. Berosus, an
ancient writer, says {}, that it will be according to the
course of the stars; and that all earthly things will be
burnt up, when all the stars shall meet in Cancer:
and one Serarius {}, in the last century, because of the
conjunction of all the planets iu Sagittarius, a fiery
sign, conjectured that the burning of the world was
near; and Mr. Whiston {}, of the present age, fantied
the world will be burnt by' the near approach of a

Tacit. Annul. 1.13. c. 5~.
Apud Senec:e. Nat. Qu:e,t. 1. ~'~,. ~:. '29.
~p~td Heideg'gcr. Dis~ert. _'2,1. de Sig~,is Ccelest. s. s.

comet to it; so the Brahmins {}. But for such conjec-
tures there is no foundation; the manner seems to be
as before described. This fire will be but temporary,
it will last but for a time; how long the world will be
burning cannot be known; fire usually makes quick
dispatch, and consumes presently; and so it is to be
distinguished from that fire in which the wicked will
be tormented, that is called everlasting fire, fire which
cannot be quenched, the smoke of which ascends for
ever and ever, Matt. xxv. 41. Mark ix. 44. Rev. xiv.
10, 11.
2dly, What will be the extent of this burning? or
how far, and to what will it reach? To the heavens,
the elements, the earth, and all the works in it.--
1. To the heavens; not to the third heaven, into which
the apostle Paul was caught up, and heard and saw
what it was not lawful to utter; for this is the throne
of God, the habitat;on of angels and glorified saints,
and now the residence of the glorious body of Christ;
but the fire will not reach the palace of Jehovah; nor
at all annoy any 0f his courtiers and friends: it is a
question, whether it will t'cach the starry-heaven, or at
all affect the luminaries of the stm, moon, and stars;
for though the city of the perfect saints, the inhabi-
tants of the new lteavens and earth, will stand in no
need of the sun and moon to enlighten them, it does
not follow that these then will not be; but rather it is
implied, that they will be, though the saints will not:
need thetn. Things that are durable, are said some-
times to endure, as the sun, and moon, and stars, for
ever and ever; and it seems as if these will be always
continued, as monuments of the power, wisdom, and
goodness of God But it will be the airy heaven {},
titat will be the subject of the conflagration, the at-
toosphere about us, the surrounding air, and the me-
teors m it. Some have thought this burning will reach
no farther than the waters of the flood did, which
vered the highest hills, and it may be reached fifteen
cubits higher; but that is no certain rule to go by:
however, as the fowls of tbe heaven or air, were
stroyed by that, so they will by this, Gen. vii.
Zeph. i. 3.- .... 2. To the earth, and all the works that
are in it; to the whole terraqueous globe, both laud
and sea: it may seem a difftculty, how that. part of the
globe which contains such vast quantii'ies of water, as
are in tlte main ocean, in other seas, and in the rivers,
shottld be consumed hereby; vet this will be nOne,
when the omnipotence of God is considered, and what
the prophet says of him with respect to this affair.;
He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up
all the rivers, Nahum. i. 4. which will be the case,
represented to John, in a vision, who saw the first
heaven and earth pass away, and new ones succeed;
and there was no more sea, that being dried up; see
Amos vii. 4. This fire will reach to all the living crea-
tures in the earth, land, and sea, the works of God's
hands: as ttte fowls of the air, so the fishes of the sea,
and "the cattle on a thousand hills ;" all the beasts
of the field, and. all men found on tbc earth; all

~ New Theory of tim Earth, b. 4. c. 5.
39 Bedang~ ch. 1. vpud I)ow's lILt. of Hindostal~.
4o So Aug~Utin. de Civ. l)ei, !. ~20, c. 18,