& The Chaos which is a phyfical Evil, might s ER M. probably be the Effect, or Consequence of XII. fome moral one. It is not impoffible but it might have been the Ruins of fome former World; and if fo, why may it not have been the World where the fallen Angels we have been difcourfing of were placed? Could I, upon good Authority, aver that it was fo; I then would easily account, not only why those unhappy Spirits should now be confined to our Atmosphere or Air; but alfo why they fhould continually bear fo much ill Will, and Envy against Man: Since upon this Suppofition Man now enjoys (and is to enjoy more happily hereafter) that Habitation, which (to fpeak in the Words of St Jude) they left. It will account again for that Affertion of St Paul, who, fpeaking of that created World which we now inhabit, says, that it was made fubject to Vanity (i. e. became (as Mofes fpeaks) without Form and void) not willingly, not for any Fault in the World itfelf, but by reafon of him who fubjected the fame, i. e. through the Sin of him who formerly poffeffed it. Again, this Hypothefis may give fome Light to a difficult Paffage in the Book of Job, where the good Man feems to defcribe the Formation of the Earth from the Chaos, 7 SER M. or Ruins of fome former World. Speaking of XII. this in the 5th verfe of the xxvith chapter, he says (according tothe best Translations *) that God wounded theGiants, i. e. the Apoftate Angels (as they areinterpreted) under the Waters, with all their Hofts; and a little afterwards, that when he divided the Sea with his Power, in order to form and produce the dry Land, be fmote through the proud One, ver. 12, 13. i. e. the Devil that opposed him, and wounded, or crushed the crooked Serpent, or Apoftate Dragon; which Paffage of Job feems to furmise, that he thought there were fome wicked, or fallen Angels in the Abyss, or Chaos, of the World, which would have hindered, if they could, God's producing it into it's new Form. Thefe Paffages of Scripture my Hypothefis, if true, would serve to illuftrate: But it would be more I own to my Purpose, to find out fome Scripture to confirm my Notion. But as I would not be dogmatical in a Point in which I am not abfolutely fure, I shall only mention to you a Text or two more, which the Thought fuggefts to me, but how far they will ferve to fupport it, I'll leave you to judge. * Vide Polyglot. Our Our Saviour himself, we know, has told us, S ER M. that at the Refurrection of the dead we shall XII. be equal to Angels, Luke xx. 35, 36. and if' so, we must have a World I fuppofe, equal to those which Angels inhabit: And if we look into that Description which St John gives of this World in it's future State, or of that new Heaven and new Earth, which the Saints are to inhabit after the Refurrection, we shall not find it much inferior to any of those beautiful and glorious Orbs we now admire at such a Distance above us. For the Apostle reprefents it as composed entirely all of Gems, and bright Materials, clear and sparkling, like a Star in the Firmament; Rev. xxi, and xxii. It's Foundations and Walls, it's Gates and Streets, all the Body of it is faid to be refplendent as Light or Fire. This can be no terrestrial Body, it must be a Substance of itself, luminous and bright; And what is there in Nature, or the whole Universe that we know of, that bears any Refemblance with fuch a Representation, except it be a Sun or fixed Star in the Heavens? And in the Heavens St John feems to say it shall be: For he represents it as having no need of the Sun, or of the Moon to fhine in it, there shall be no Night there (faith he) and they need no Candle; for the Glory of God SERM. did lighten it, and the Lamb is the Light XII. thereof: Rev, xx. 23. and xxi. 5. This looks 'as if this new World, or this old one new rectified, fhould quit it's prefent Situation, and be moved again within View of the Glóry of God; and this perhaps, may be the Meaning of St John, when he says, that the prefent Heaven and Earth fled away, and there was found no Place for them, ch. xx. 11, and xxi. 1. i. e, fled away from it's prefent Place to fome other Part of the Universe, fo as it could be no longer found among the Planetary Orbs below; but exalted, we fee, within view of God himself, whofe Face they Shall fee, ver. 4, and whom they shall worship and adore, without a Temple, for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb, are the Temple of it; i. e. fhall themselves be present with them and receive their Adoration. This is the Description both of the Nature and Situation of our World hereafter; when Men fhall themselves be made equal to Angels, and fit to inhabit it. If then it be true, what Philofophers as well as Divines have imagined, that this future glorified State of our Earth, is only it's original, priftine State reftored to it again; it will follow, that it was once in the fame glorious Condition, and ftood as high in the Favour of God heretofore, as hereafter it shall SE R M. be. And if so, it's Inhabitants (for Inhabi- XII. tants it undoubtedly had) might be those unhappy Spirits of whom we are discourfing, and who at present are chained, or confined in it as a Prison, and who perhaps, when it becomes the Heaven of the Saints, may find it their Hell. Thus having finished my two Enquiries, I will make the fame Ufe of the Doctrine I have advanced, as the Apostle himself does of the Text upon which I have built it. And which he introduces only for the fake of fhewing the Certainty of the Divine Vengeance overtaking Sinners, by the Induction of three memorable and great Examples, viz, by the ejecting or cafting out of the fallen Angels from Heaven, the drowning this World by an univerfal Flood, and the overthrowing of Sodom and Gomorrha by Fire. Of which three Examples my Text stands the first and greatest. If (faith he) God spared not the Angels that finned, but having caft them down to Hell, or to Tartarus, delivered them to be kept in Chains of Darkness, unto Judgment; and spared not the old World, but bringing in the Flood upon the World of the Ungodly; and turning the Cities of Sodom and Gomorrha |