Fourthly, How many Ages these rebellious Angels might be confined to this Orb before its Formation out of Chaos, and the Difpofition of it by the Almighty Fiat into that Order and Beauty, in which we now fee and behold it, is nothing material. However, it may for the Sake of Speculation be fuppofed as Six Thoufand Years. For fays the Apoftle, Beloved be not ignorant of this one Thing, that one Day is with the Lord as a Thousand Years, and a Thousand Years as one Day. If then we fuppose these unhappy Beings to continue in this World or Hell, while it was without Light and without Form, fix Days, i. e. fo many thousand Years, they 'were a mystical Week, fave the Day of Reft, in outer Darkness. After the Expiration of these fix mystical Days God began the Formation of the World.

Fifthly,

only understand, that this is the Place, and the only Place that is inferior to Heaven, or to the Manfions fpoken of by our Saviour. Were it poffible for us to fee the World again in its ancient Chaos, without the Comforts of the glorious Sun, we fhould then pronounce it Hell, i. e. the inferior Region. Against this Doctrine it may be objected, that it is faid, Deut. xxxii. 22. For a Fire is kindled in my Anger, and fhall burn unto "the lowest Hell, and fhall confume the Earth with her In"crease, and fet on fire the Foundations of the Mountains where Hell and Earth are spoke of as two distinct Places. I anfwer, So are the Mountains made as diftinct as the Hell and the Earth; and if the Objection be good in refpect of the Distinction of Hell and Earth it is as good in refpect of the Mountains; for if Hell be not the Earth in this Place, no more are the Mountains the Earth: So that there are according to the Objector three Worlds, vig. Hell, Earth and Mountains. Which is abfurd: The Truth is, that the Author of this Book wrote in a poetic Stile, and it is common with Poets to use a Flourish of Words to fuit the Measure of their Verfe. The Learned Bishop Patrick in his Commentary on this Place, fays the Expreffion, the lowest Hell, fignifies the Depth of that Mifery and

Woe

Fifthly, We are come to the Creation of the World, and to the Formation of the first Man.

And now confidering this Period of Time, I afk, How came it to pafs, that God fhould digeft the Earth or Hell into beauteous and comfortable Order, and create Man? I find myfelf answered, That God made a new Creation, Man, to fupply the Depopulation in Heaven, occafioned by the Defection of the third Part of the Angels under Lucifer.

Woe which would fhortly come upon the Jezus, in the approaching Siege of Jerufalem. David fays, "The Sorrows of "Hell compaffed me about," which implies no more than this: The Sorrows, the Afflictions, the Difquietudes of this inferior -Place, the Earth, feize me on every Side, and that he means the Earth by this poetic Expreffion is plain from the foregoing Part of this Chapter. To which I refer the Reader. The florid Expreffion of Job comes next to be confidered, “It is "as high as Heaven, what canft thou do? deeper than Hell, "what canft thou know? The Measure thereof is longer than "the Earth, and broader than the Sea, Job xi. 8, 9. As Feb looked upon the Earth to be a Flat, he might allude to an inferior Part of the Earth, but yet not a diftinct Region from it. The Depth or Profundity of the Earth, he calls Hell, the Surface of the Earth its Length, and the Sea its Breadth. Again, Fob fays, chap. xxvi. 6. "Hell is naked "before him, and Destruction hath no Covering." Hell and Deftruction are here fynonymously used, and the Expreffion fignifies, that no Distance from God, can hide us from his All-feeing Eye.

David very angry with the Heathens was minded they should be punished, is therefore willing that God fhould doom them to fome worfe Place than they were now in, rafhly pronounces, "The Wicked (the Heathens) fhall be turned into Hell, i. e. into their Graves: for David wanted them out of his Way. It only fhews, the Enmity the Jews had to the Gentiles. Pf xvi. 1o. is looked on as a prophetic Saying, " For thou wilt "not leave my Soul in Hell, i. e' in the inferior Region, the Earth. P/al. Iv. 5. is a Curfe of David's on his Enemies, which Way of Action he was a Dab at. Pfal. lxxxv. 13. He calls the Grave, the loweft Hell. It should appear from this

Pfalm

But how came it to pafs that they were placed in Hell in order to bring about fo exalted a Defign? Sure! we have better Thoughts concerning God, or at least we ought to have, than to suppose him to do that which we ourselves abhor. Let me ask, Will we send our Sons and our Daughters into the Places and Company of the Wicked and Blafphemous to learn true Piety, Virtue, Chastity and Holinefs. Think ye then that God created Man pure, upright and perfect,

new

Pfalm, that David had been fick, and being recovered is thankful, that he was delivered from Hell, i. e. from the : Grave, as the Margin reads it. Pfal. cxvi. 3. fhews the Torture of the Distemper that had at that Time feized the poor King, for fome Distempers may indeed emphatically be filed the Pains of Hell, i. e. Diftempers which lead to the Grave. Solomon fpeaking of a Whore, Prov. v. 5. fays, That her Steps go down to Hell: And nothing is more certain, than that those who are afflicted with the Distempers accummulated by Fornication go fwift into the Grave. See Chap. vii. 27. and ix. 13---18. xv. 24. Xxiii. 14. Xxvii. 20. Ifa. v. 14. xiv. • 9, 15. xxviii. 15, 18. lvii. 9. Ezek. xxxi. 16, 17. xxxii. 21, 27. Amos ix. 2. Jonah ii. 2. Hab. ii. 5. In all which Places the Word Hell is used only to denote the Grave.

Next come we to the Words of our Saviour, Matth. v. 22. "But whofoever shall fay, Thou Fool, fhall be in Danger of "Hell-fire." Tis very hard, (if true, according to the Vulgar Opinion) that any Man, for thus cenfuring another should be doomed to everlasting material Punishment. The Expreffion only fhews, that the Perfon cenfuring another by this Name is full of Wrath, Pride and Hatred. And fo far as these Sins pin a Man down to Hell, they retard his celeftial Flight. Ver. 29, 30. argues that it is better for a Man to loose a Mem, ber, than by keeping it putrid to hazard the whole Body to be caft into the Grave. Again, chap. xvi. 18. Jefus fays to Peter,

Upon this Rock I will build my Church, and the Gates of "Hell fhall not prevail against it, i. e. the Powers of this World, fhall not, &c. Chap. xxiii. 33. How can ye escape the Damnation of Hell? i. e. How can you who retain the ancient Inveteracy against my Godhead efcape the Sentence pronounced at the Time of your Rebellion, Depart, ye Apoftates, from my Prefence, into the Place which I have appointed for you.

new Beings,Soul and Body, to fill the Deficiency in Heaven, and in order to fit them for fo facred a Place, fent them for Education into Hell, to learn them that Holiness without which no Man fhall fee the Lord. No, Reafon tells us, that if Man had been a new Creation, both Soul and Body, and God was willing to fupply the Depopulation, He would have created them in Heaven, and placed them immediately in those Stations, Pofts and Offices, which the Ejected had before their Fall.

But farther, I ask, Did God want Company? or, Were there not a great Number of Beings, who continually chanted forth their Halleluia's, encompaffing His Throne? Was his Glory and Honour by their Revolt diminished, or his Palace deftitute of Inhabitants? No, Two Thirds remain, keep their Principality, and obey his Will.

Or on the other hand, Was the Crime (tho' the moft grofs) of these unhappy_Angels, fo very great, that it admitted of no Forgiveness, at no Time, nor by no Means, in Gcd's Comprehenfion? Could no Punishment be found out, no Penance inflicted, no Way established, by infinite Knowledge, through which they paffing in due Obedience to His Will, and in an humble and worthy Acknowledgment of His Supremacy over them, they might at last attain the State from whence fallen? Can we fuppofe, that an Arrian who, at this Day, is so proud, that he will not own the Godhead and Divinity of the Eternal Logos, as equal to the Godhead and Divinity of God the Father should repent of his Sin, acknowledge his Error, and profefs the Truth, I fay, can we fuppofe, that if fuch an one fhould add to this Faith, Holinefs of Life, he will not after Death be admitted into thofe Manfions Chrift hath prepared for them who D 2°

love

love him. For fays the Eternal Word himself: Matth. xii. Verily, I fay unto you, all Sins and Blafphemies against the Son of God shall be forgiven.

Mark

28.

iii.

Luke xii.

10.

This Decree not only paffed at that Time or Period when Chrift appeared in Judea, but also before the Formation of the first Man, and was the very Cause thereof. But,

Let us fee, Why God created the Chaos, and formed the World?

There has not been given as yet any real fatisfactory Reafon for the Creation of the World. Now the Doctrine, I advance, will give us fuch Reasons for it, I humble conceive, as will fully fhew, that it was highly just and reasonable, as well as an Act of the Power of its Creator.

I. It was abfolutely reasonable, That when Lucifer and his Angels had rebelled, and it was convenient that they fhould be expelled Heaven, and made Examples of, that fome Place fhould be created for their Reception, into which they should be caft, and therein confined: For why fhonld they who rebelled against the Decree of Heaven, who denied the Godhead of the Eternal Word, and who took up Arms to oppose his Supremacy, notwithstanding that remain in the Regions of Blifs and Peace, Joy and Tranquillity? Did not their Sin call for a Punishment fo juft and fo natural? A Banishment from that Kingdom, whofe Laws and ancient Maxims they had publickly violated, and whofe Conftitution they boldly and blafphemously attempted to. fubvert and extirpate. Nay, I think it may be faid, that these Angels when they had committed this their matchless Sin, it became, as it were, natural to them to feek fome Place more agreeable to their Principles and unhappy Condition, for they left, fays the Apostle, their Principalities. This they did, when they first engaged in the Rebellion. Thus fallen from

celeftial