CHAP. II
The true state of the Question is propos'd.
'Tis the general doctrine of the Ancients, that the
present World, or the present frame of Nature,
is mutable and perishable: To which the Sacred
Books agree: and natural reason can alledge nothing against it.
WHen we speak of the End or destruction of the
World, whether by Fire or otherwise, 'Tis
not to be imagin'd that we understand this of the
Great Vniverse; Sun, Moon, and Stars, and the highest
Heavens: as if these were to perish or be destroy'd,
some few years hence, whether by Fire or any other
way. This Question is only to be understood of the
Sublunary World, of this Earth and its Furniture;
which had its original about six thousand years ago,
according to the History of Moses; and hath once already been destroy'd, when the exteriour region of it
broke, and the Abyss issuing forth, as out of a womb,
overflow'd all the habitable Earth. The next Deluge
is that of Fire; which will have the same bounds,
and overflow the Surface of the Earth much-what in
the same manner. But the celestial Regions, where
the Stars and Angels inhabit, are not concern'd in
this fate: Those are not made of combustible matter,
nor, if they were, cou'd our flames reach them. Possibly those Bodies may have changes and revolutions
peculiar to themselves, but in ways unknown to us,
and after long and unknown periods of time. Therefore when we speak of the Conflagration of the World,
These have no concern in the question; nor any other
part of the Universe, than the Earth and its dependances. As will evidently appear when we come to
explain the manner and causes of the Conflagration.
