Now thefe Enquiries have we made, and these Determinations have we come to, concerning the Souls of the Dead, according to the Light which we have received, either from the Nature of Things, or from the facred Oracles: By which it appears, first, that the Soul furvives the Body; fecondly, that the Souls of the Good will be happy after Death, and the Souls of the Wicked unhappy: But, thirdly, that before the Day of Judgment, the former will not be fupremely happy, nor the latter extremely miserable. Laftly, that 'tis more

pro

who live in this World, nor to meddle with the Concerns of their Families, nor to be perplexed with their Cares: They reft from their Labours. Nor can I eafily conceive that an old Beldam, for Example, who never knew how to write or read, nor to make the Mark of any one Letter in the Alphabet, that much less knew how to paint or to engrave exactly; I fay, I cannot easily conceive, that this old Beldam fhould be able to appear before us in her own Shape, and with all the Lines of her Face, and Lineaments of her Body, like one of such an Age, and with thofe Wrinkles that are the Effects of it; and all this to the greatest Exactnefs: Nor to appear only in her own Shape, but in her ufual Garments and her external Drefs: And all this fo compleatly, fo exactly, that neither Apelles himself, nor Phidias, no Art of the Painter, no Art of the Sculptor, was ever able to equal the Art of this old Beldam. We are amaz'd at the Hearing of thefe Things, as Things beyond the common Belief of Men: But as the Power and Faculties of the Soul, after 'tis fet free from this Body, and cloathed with a thinner, are altogether unknown to us, I must own that all that I have faid, however it may have a Tendency to perfuade, yet does not come up to the Force of a De monftration.

probable, that until the Refurrection the Souls will remain in a separate State, than that they will be vested in any Body. Yet, after all, my Opinion is, that this is to be number'd amongst 'Things obfcure, or Things not expreflly reveal'd.* Thus far have we gone, let us now proceed to the rest.

*Anexola, to abftain, with regard to fome Things, is no lefs the Duty of a Chriftian, than of a Philofopher. If within this grofs Body, which we carry about with us, there is fome internal Vehicle, with which the Soul being invefted takes its Flight in the Article of Death, I have nothing to fay against it; but we are bound to philofophize according to Allegations folidly proved.

CHAP. V.

Transition to the remaining Parts of this Work; and, firft, concerning the Coming of Christ, and the Conflagration of the World.

H'

ITHERTO we have been among the filent Dead: Now we must return into the World's pompous Theatre, where a new Face of Things entertains us, where new Phænomena fhew themselves. Behold the Meffiah coming in the Clouds of Heaven, the World in Flames on every Side, and the Dead with Amazement rifing, and the

Tribunal

2 Theff. i. 7, 8.

Tribunal prepared for the great Day of Judgment. If ever fince the Beginning of Time there were, if ever to the End of the World there will be aftonishing Scenes, aftonishing Sights, fuch these will transcendently be. Then new Heavens, and a new Earth, will fucceed; then the millennary Empire of Chrift; and, laftly, the End of this Globe of Earth, and the Confummation of all that belongs to it. These are Subjects of the greatest Concern and Weight to us, which we, according to our Capacity, and the Light that we came into the World with, or that we have received from the facred Writings, fhall handle each in its Order.

THE first four of thefe, if Iam not mistaken, are to fall out at the fame Time together. Christ is to come to Judgment in Flames of Fire, and the Dead at the fame Time are to rife. And these four Points, I believe to be more clearly revealed, as to the Things themfelves, or the Main of them. But when the Question is concerning Modes and Circumftances, we must often diftinguish between the vulgar Hypothefis, and the reasonable one, the literal and the fecret one. Laftly, as for the Things which are wholly hid from our Knowledge, they are entirely to be referred to the fecret Difpenfation of the Almighty.

As for what regards the Burning of the World, and the Coming of Chrift, those we have formerly treated of through an entire

Book,

Book, which is the Third of the Theory of the Earth. And, therefore, we shall treat of them only fuccinctly, and by Way of Abridgment here, that we may not appear to do the fame Thing over again. Chrift will come to judge and to rule the World; To judge Mankind, and to reign together with his Saints. He has explain'd each of these to his Difciples, and called them to be his Affeffors in either Throne. In the Re- Matt. xix. generation, when the Son of Man fhall fit in the 28. Throne of his Glory, ye alfo fhall fit upon twelve Thrones, judging the twelve Tribes of Ifrael. Christ had before, fpeaking of the Life to come, join'd both these together, Empire and Judgment: For the Son of Man fhall come in xvi.27,28. the Glory of his Father, with his Angels, and then he hall reward every Man according to his Works. Laftly, in the folemn and divine Oracle, which he delivered upon the Mount of Olives, a little before his Death, he more than once reminded them of his Return to the Earth: And then shall appear the Sign Mat. xxiv. of the Son of Man in Heaven, and then 30, 31. fhall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn; J and they shall fee the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory. And he shall fend his Angels with a great Sound of a Trumpet, and they fhall gather together his Elect from the four Winds, from one End of Heaven to the 3 other.

1

Mat. xxvi.

64.

In these, and other refembling Paffages, we are inftructed by the Mouth of Chrift himself in his future Return to the Earth, which after him the Angels, and after them the Apostles again and again proclaimed. At the fame Time, I am not ignorant that these Sayings of Chrift, concerning his future Coming, are so restrained by fome, and have their Meaning fo maimed, as if nothing was meant by them, but the Destruction of Jerufalem; though during the Time that Jerufalem was destroy'd, Chrift remained above in the Heavens; nor during that Time did he ever come, or ever fo much as appear, unless improperly, as far as the Works and the Judgments of God are taken for God himfelf. Befides, the external Splendor, the Glory of the Father, the Concomitancy of Angels painted in those Descriptions, denote his perfonal Coming, and can never be adjusted to any figurative Meaning. Laftly, the univerfal Judgment, and the End of the World are connected together with this Coming of Christ, in the forementioned Paffages. The Preparation for Judgment is manifeftly defcrib'd in the forefaid Paffage, Matt. xix. 28. as you will find by comparing it with Rev. xx. 4, 11, 12. You will likewife find the judicial Reward or Punishment of every one according to his Merits, if you compare Matt. xvi. 27, 28. with Rom. ii. 5, 6, &c. And in the twenty-fifth Chapter of the fame Evangelift,