Comet may regularly strike against a Planet in its Courfe, and thereby remove it from its prefent Station, into an Órbit of a quite different Situation, Nature, and Ufe, from what it now has, make any difficulty at all in believing this, viz. that there will be at laft, a Confummation of all Things belonging to this Sublunary World, according as the Infpired Writer has delivered it to us. I observe,

(10.) That the Sacred Accounts of "Adus, or of the Place of departed Souls, in the intermediate State before the Refurrection, is very agreeable to the true Frame of the Univerfe. That"Adus, or the Place of departed Souls, till the Refurrection, is either in the Air, or in the Heart of the Earth, feems to me the Importance of all the Ancient and Sacred Records we have of that

See the Ap- Matter, i. e. they feem to me to imply, that pendix to M.Boyle's fome of them are at liberty in the Air, and Left. or my others imprifon'd in the Earth; which two Places Sem and we have fhewn to be, Philofophically speaking, Efays. P. the only fit Places for their Habitation alfo. Sa 270--178. that hitherto Nature and Scripture feem to me entirely to agree, and to bear Witness mutually to each other in thefe Matters.

(11.) I obferve, that the Sacred Accounts of Heaven, or of the Place and State of Happiness for Good Men before the Confummation of all Things, is not only agreeable to the Remains of Ancient Profane Tradition, but to the true Syftem of the World alfo. This happy State is defcrib'd in Scripture to be a State of Light, a Reward in Heaven, and introduc'd by Good Men's meeting the Lord in the Air; and fo being ever with the Lord. Which if it be after Theff.iv. the Conflagration, as feems not improbable,

Pf. xxxvi.

9. Colof i.

12.

Luc. vi.

23.

will

will belong to a more pure and purged State of our Air or Heaven than what we now enjoy;

which will well agree to fuch Glorious and Spiri- 1 Cor. xv. tual, and Uncorrupt Bodies as Good Men are to 42, 43. have at that Time. Wherefore, as we have already feen, that the Air in its prefent State, both according to Nature and Scripture, is one proper Place for Invifible Beings, those I mean that inhabit Aerial Bodies, fo may it by the purifying Fire of the Conflagration be fo meliorated as to be a proper Place for the Habitation of the Pious, with their Spiritual Bodies. alfo, till the Confummation of all Things. For as to the State and Place of Happiness after that Confummation, I do not know that the Sacred Writings afford us any particular Light about it; and fo I fhall not prefume to indulge my felf in any groundlefs Conjectures thereto relating; as content with this exact Agreement of Nature and Scripture till this grand Period of our World, which feems to me to be the Grand Period of thofe Sacred Books alfo.

(12.) I obferve, that the Sacred Accounts of Hell, or of the Place and State of Punishment for wicked Men after the general Refurrection, is agreeable not only to the Remains of ancient profane Tradition, but to the true Syftem of the World alfo. This fad State is in Scripture defcrib'd as a State of Darkness, of outward Matt.viii. Darkness, of blackness of Darkness, of Tor- 12. ment and Punishment for Ages, or for Ages of Jude 5. 13. Ages, by Flame, or by Fire, or by Fire and Brim- Luc. xvi. Stone, with Weeping and Gnashing of Teeth; 24 where the Smoak of the Ungodly's Torment Mat. viii. afcends up for ever and ever; where they are Tormented in the Prefence of the Holy Angels, 10, 11.

end

Mat. xxv.

12.

Apoc. xiv.

49, 50.

Mat. xiii. and in the Prefence of the Lamb ; when the Holy Angels Shall have feparated the Wicked from among the Juft, and have caft them into a Furnace of Fire. Now this Defcription does in every Circumftance, fo exactly agree with the Nature of a Comet, afcending from the Hot Regions near the Sun, and going into the Cold Regions beyond Saturn, with its long fmoaking Tail arifing up from it, through its feveral Ages or Periods of revolving, and this in the Sight of all the Inhabitants of our Air, and of the reft of the Syftem; that I cannot but think the Surface or Atmosphere of fuch a Comet to be that Place of Torment fo terribly defcribed in Scripture, into which the Devil and his Angels, with wicked Men their Companions,when 2 Pet. ii. delivered out of their Prifon in the Heart of the Earth, shall be caft for their utter PerdiJud. v. 6. tion or fecond Death; which will be indeed a Apoc. xx. terrible but a moft ufeful Spectacle to the reft of God's rational Creatures; and will admonish Mat.x.28. them above all Things to preferve their InnoLuc.xii.5, cence and Obedience; and to fear him who is thus able to deftroy both Soul and Body in Hell.

4.

14.

PART

Such Inferences fhewn to be the common Voice of Nature and Reason, from the Teftimonies of the most confiderable Perfons in all Ages.

N. B.

HE Teftimonies under this Head will be of themselves fo plain, that I fhall need to make no Comment nor Reflections upon them; but then they will be withal fo numerous, that I must beg the fober Reader's Patience and Attention in the diftinct Perufal and Confideration of them: Which certainly are but a due Debt to the Importance of the Subject, and to the Character of the Witneffes. I begin with the Book of Job; which I efteem the Ancienteft Record now extant in the World.

Fob] God is wife in Heart, and mighty in ix. 4.-10. ftrength: Who hath hardened himself against him, and hath profpered? Which removeth the Mountains,and they know not which overturneth them in his Anger. Which fhaketh the Earth

Out

X, 8-12.

xii. 7.-10.

xxii. 12.

xxvi. 7-

14.

out of her Place, and the Pillars thereof tremble. Which commandeth the Sun, and it riseth not and fealeth up the Stars. Which alone fpreadeth out the Heavens, and treadeth upon the Waves of the Sea. Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the Chambers of the South. Which doeth great Things paft finding out, yea, and Wonders without Number.

Thine Hands have made me and fashioned me together round about; yet thou doft destroy me. Remember, I beseech thee, that thou haft made me as the Clay, and wilt thou bring me into Duft again? Haft Thou not poured me out as Milk, and cruddled me like Cheefe? Thou haft clothed me with Skin and Flesh, and hast fenced me with Bones and Sinews. Thou haft granted me Life and Favour, and thy Vifitation hath preserved my Spirit.

But ask now the Beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the Fowls of the Air, and they shall tell thee Or speak to the Earth, and it fhall teach thee; and the Fishes of the Sea fhall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all thefe, that the Hand of the Lord hath wrought this? In whofe Hand is the Soul of every living Thing, and the Breath of all Mankind.

Is not God in the Heighth of Heaven? And behold the Heighth of the Stars how high they

are.

He stretcheth out the North over the empty. Place, and hangeth the Earth upon nothing. He bindeth up the Waters in his thick Clouds, and the Cloud is not rent under them. He holdeth back the Face of his Throne, and fpreadeth his Cloud upon it. He hath compaffed the Waters with Bounds, until the Day and Night come to

4

an