World

WORLD, in Latin, Mundus; in Greek, Cosmos; in Hebrew, Thebel. The Name World in Scripture has several Significations. Sometimes it is taken for the whole Universe, comprehending the Heavens, Earth, Sea, the Elements, the Angels, Men, Animals; in a word, all created Beings. 2. It is taken only for the Globe of the Earth, the Waters, and all things therein contained. 3. For the Race of Mankind. Thus Jesus Christ says to his Apostles, I am the John viii. 12. xvii. 25.light of the World. And elsewhere, O righteous Father, the World hath not known thee. And, If the World hate you, ye know that it xv. 18.hated me before it hated you. 4. The World, is also put for the Lovers of this World, the good things of this World: If ye were of the xv. 19.World, the World would love his own: But because ye are not of the World, but I have chosen you out of the World, therefore the World hateth you. And St. Paul says, The World is crucified unto me, and I unto the Galat. vi. 14. 1 John ii. 15.World. And St. John says, Love not the World, nor the things that are in the World: If any man love the World, the love of the Father is not in him.

Concerning the Creation of the World, there are many different Questions proposed, which we shall only touch upon as we go along. ‘Tis asked, if the whole Mass of Matter was created all at once, and if all corporeal Beings were ranged at the same time, or only in the Space of seven Days, as Moses describes in the Beginning of the Book of Genesis. Interpreters are of opinion, that God created all the Matter of the Universe out of Nothing, in an Instant, by one simple Act of his almighty Will; but they are not agreed about the other Question. Some maintain, that sensible Beings were not brought to their full Perfection, till after the Space of Seven Days was compleated. This is the Opinion of the greatest part of the Fathers and Interpreters, and is founded upon Moses’s Narration, who expresses it very distinctly. Besides, it cannot be easily conceived, that the Chaos should settle into any regular Order, ‘till after an infinite Variety of different Motions, by which the Parts of the Matter separated from one another, which were of different and incompatible Qualities, and till there should be an Union and Coalescence of those which were of the same Form and Nature; and that all those Motions could not be performed till after a sufficient Space of Time.

Others, as Philo,¹ Origen,² St. Austin,³ and some others, fearing that Consequences contrary to the Immutability and Omnipotence of the Creator might be drawn, from the Opinion of a successive Creation, have thought that nothing should be inferred from Moses’s Description, but a mental Succession of Order, and that he only represents the Creation as performed in Succession of Time, to accommodate himself to the Apprehensions of the Vulgar, and to give a more intelligible Account of it. The Wiseman says, He that liveth for ever created all things in general, or together. Matter, always Ecclus. xviii. 1.obedient to the Commands of the Almighty, had no need of Preparation. This is the most plausible of what is advanced to support this last Opinion. But the first seems the most probable, is most natural, and has the greatest number of Followers.

It is also enquired, at what Season of the Year the World was created? The generality of the Fathers think,⁴ that it was created in the Spring. So it was determined by a Council which was said to have been held in Palestine, by Theophilus of Alexandria, at the Instances of Pope Victor.⁵ The Poets describe the first Days of the World, like those of a fine Spring-Season. But a great number of others contend, that the World was created in Autumn. They urge, 1. That the Hebrews, the Egyptians, and most of the Orientals, began their Year at Autumn; which Custom they had received from their Ancestors, and they from the first Men, who would naturally commence their Year from the time when the World began. 2. When God created Adam and Eve, and all other Animals, he was to provide them with necessary Nourishment. 3. Lastly, there was Fruit upon the Trees in the Garden of Eden: We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, says Eve to the Serpent; but of the fruit of the tree Genesis iii. 2, 3.which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. It was therefore Autumn, in whatever Place we suppose Adam to have been created: And this Opinion has been embraced by all our most learned Chronologists, as Petavius, Scaliger, Usher, and many others.

The ancient Hebrews had very different Notions of the System of the Universe, and the Disposition of all its Parts, from our modern Philosophers and Astronomers. Their System was very simple, and accommodated to the Apprehensions of the Vulgar; and the Scripture proposes it rather as a received Opinion, to which it was obliged to conform its Expressions, in order to be understood by the People, than a Confirmation and Approbation of it, as of a Doctrine to which our Belief and Submission is required. It leaves this kind of Enquiries to the Curiosity of Philosophers: This sore Eccles. i. 13.travel hath God given to the sons of men, to be exercised therewith: And no Consequences are to be drawn from any Expressions in Scripture, relating to the Nature of corporeal things. The Hebrews believed, that at the Beginning of the Creation God divided the Waters into two Parts, one of Gen. i. 6.which was poured into the Deep, and made the Sea, and the other was laid up above the Firmament, where it supplies Matter for the Rain which falls upon the Earth. They believed the Earth to be an immense immoveable Plain, a surrounded on all sides by the Sea, and founded upon the Waters.

They thought the Earth to be wholly impregnated and penetrated by the Waters; that all the Fountains and Rivers returned into the Sea again, from whence Eccles. i. 7.they were supplied. They imagined there were three Heavens; the first, wherein the Birds fly, and the Clouds are formed; the second, in which the Stars are fixed and set; the third, wherein the Majesty of the Most High resides, whither St. Paul was transported, and where he heard Words which it 2 Cor. xii. 4.was not lawful to utter. They did not imagine that there were any Antipodes, or that the Heavens surrounded the Earth below us, or, by Consequence, that the Sun, Moon, or Stars, made their Revolutions about the Earth, or that the Earth had any Motion, in order to produce the same Effects in respect of us, as if the whole Machine of the Heavens had turned about the Earth. As to the System of the ancient Hebrews, concerning the Form and Disposition of the Universe, the Reader may see the whole matter discussed in our Dissertation upon this Subject, printed before the Commentary upon Ecclesiastes.

Many Difficulties are also started concerning the Duration of the World. This Duration may be considered either in respect of the Time past, or the future. The greatest part of the ancient Nations and Kingdoms of which we have any Monuments remaining, differ from each other concerning the Duration of the World. The Chaldeans, the Egyptians, the Chinese, the Greeks, the Hebrews, have all different Ways of computing the Years of the World. I do not speak of those that think there have been several Worlds, or several successive Creations of Men upon the Earth; or of those that think the World has been from all Eternity. Even the Chronologers, who follow the Hebrew Text and the Vulgate, are not agreed among themselves. ‘Tis known that the Hebrew Text of the Jews, and that of the Samaritans, differ from each other; and that the Copies of the Septuagint, which are no other than Translations of the Hebrew Text, are however very different from that Text in this respect: So that it is altogether impossible to reconcile all these Variations. Our Dissertation upon sacred Chronology may be perused, which is before the Commentary upon Genesis. According to the Computation of Usher, which is at present generally followed, from the Beginning of the World to the Birth of Christ, we reckon just four thousand Years; and from the Birth of Christ to this present Year, we reckon One thousand seven hundred and thirty-two Years: But the more skilful Chronologers, judging that the Birth of Christ is here put three Years too late, we must reckon it to be now One thousand seven hundred and thirty-five Years, instead of the former Number. So that from the Creation to this Time, it is exactly Five thousand seven hundred and thirty-five Years.

As to the Duration of the World from this time to its final Determination, or Dissolution, this is still much more doubtful and uncertain. The Egyptians were of opinion, that after a Revolution of Thirty-six thousand five hundred and twenty-five Years, all the Planets would be found in the same Point, and that then the World would be renewed, either by a Deluge, or by an universal Conflagration. They thought the World had already been renewed several times after this manner; and this Sentiment was even common among the Greeks also: But they were not agreed about the number of Years that this great Year, or one entire Revolution, would take up. Some, as Aristarchus,⁶ assigned it Two thousand four hundred and eightyfour Years: Others, as Aretes of Dynachium, Five thousand five hundred and fifty-two Years: Heraclitus and Linus, Ten thousand eight hundred Years; or, according to others, Eighteen thousand: Dion, Ten thousand School,⁷ eight hundred and eighty-one; Orpheus, One hundred thousand and twenty Years; Cassander, Three millions six hundred thousand Years. Plato,a and his whole School, as also Origen,⁸ were persuaded, that after a certain number of Years there was a Succession of new Worlds; which Opinion St. Austin⁹ has substantially refuted.

The Jews had an ancient Tradition,¹⁰ which they had from Elijah, not the great Prophet of that Name, but another, that lived after the Captivity of Babylon, and an hundred fifty-four Years after the rebuilding of the Second Temple: According to this Tradition, the World was to continue six thousand Years; that is, two thousand Years in a State of Nature, before the Law, two thousand under the Law, and two thousand under the Messiah. This Tradition has been adopted by several of the ancient Fathers, as St. Cyprian, Lactantius, St. Ambrose, Irenæus, Hilarius, Gaudentius of Brescia, the Author of the Orthodox Questions under the Name of Justin, St. Jerome, Victorinus upon the Revelations, Raban Maurus upon Deuteronomy, Isidore of Seville, and a great number of more modern Writers.¹¹ St. Austin¹² seems to be pretty favourable to this Opinion, in his 20th Book of The City of God, Chap. 7. but elsewhere he inveighs with some Vehemence against the Temerity of those who had dared to affirm, that the World should continue but six thousand Years; whereas they knew, that Jesus Christ, in his Gospel,¹³ has declared, that the Father alone has reserved to himself the Knowledge of the Time and Moment of the Last Day. We have enlarged upon this Matter, in our Dissertation concerning the End of the World, printed before our Commentary upon the second Volume of St. Paul’s Epistles. But, according to this Sentiment, the World ought not to endure longer than two hundred and sixty-five Years more, according to our Chronology, which reckons already five thousand seven hundred and thirty-five Years from the Beginning of the World.

Many have thought that the World was eternal, that it always existed, and that it will never have an End. But those of this opinion are divided among themselves, as to Particulars. Many have maintained, that there have been several Worlds, which have succeeded one another, and that the World has been re-

Vol. III. newed several times. That Matter is Eternal, but that in the whole Extent of Eternity God has given it an infinite Variety of Forms, which we call Creation: That Moses has given us the History of the last of these Creations, which has been preceded by many others. That God did not exist before his Work; for being eternal, and not capable of Inactivity, he could not remain without Action, nor leave Matter to itself, without Form or Motion. This Opinion has been espoused by a great number both of Jews and Mahometans, as Averroes, Avicenna, Alfaraba, and others, that have made Profession of following the Philosophy of Aristotle. There are also some Christian Commentators, who have been of Grot. Vatab.opinion, that these Words of Moses, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, may be understood, according to the Hebrew, Before God created the heaven and the earth, every thing was contained in the Chaos. This would intimate the Pre-existence of Matter, and even its Eternity, before God had given it the Form which it has retained ever since.

I say nothing here of the Pre-Adamites, having spoke of them in their proper Place, and shall say something farther of them afterwards. These may be reckoned in the number of those that hold the Eternity of the World; or, at least, that admit of several Worlds, in a regular Succession to each other.

Eccles. i. 9, 10, 11.The Question concerning the Antiquity of the World, was renewed in the time of Maimonides;¹⁴ that is, in the twelfth Century. But it seems, that even in the time of Solomon, there were Free-thinkers that maintained it. The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done, is that which shall be done; and there is no new thing under the sun. Is there any thing, whereof it may be said, See, this is new? It hath been already of old time, which was before us. There is no remembrance of former things, neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come, with those that shall come after. They that stickle for the Eternity of the World never fail to quote the Opinion of this Prince, who was endued with so much Wisdom and Understanding. Maimonides wrote on purpose to confute them, and the Hebrews reject them as Hereticks, as excommunicated Persons, and expelled out of Israel, who pretend to maintain, that Matter is coeternal with God. True it is, that such Jews as Z z¹⁵ defend this Sentiment, endeavour to skreen themselves from Censure, even by the Authority of Maimonides himself, who, as they affirm, has not comprehended the Creation of the World among the fundamental Articles of the Jewish Creed.

In the fifteenth Century a Rabbin called Samuel Sarsa endeavoured to reconcile the Pagan Philosophers with Moses, upon the Subject of the Creation of the World.¹⁶ He contended, that the World was not created out of nothing, but that it was formed of Matter that pre-existed, in a Succession of several Days, as we read in the History of Genesis. But Sarsa was condemned to be burnt alive. Capantou, a Spanish Rabbin, eagerly solicited his Condemnation, and he was supported by a great number of Doctors of that Time, and of his own Nation. This is a decided Point, to shew the common Sentiment of the Synagogue upon this important Article.

Yet they tolerate those who maintain, that before the World which we now inhabit, there was a former, which came to its Period in the seventh Millinary after its Creation; and that its Successor shall in like manner determine. They support this Opinion by a Proof of but little Solidity: ‘Tis because Moses begins his Account by the Letter Beth, which stands for two. ‘Tis easy to see that this proceeds from the Mint of the Cabalists. Other Doctors teach, that God created seven things before the Universe. First, the Law, or Wisdom; secondly, Hell; thirdly, Paradise; fourthly, the Throne of his Glory; fifthly, the Sanctuary; sixthly, the Name of the Messiah; lastly, Repentance. All this is founded upon Passages of Scripture, understood preposterously, and in a remote Sense.

Tractat. Theologico-Politic.Spinosa was bred up in the Synagogue, and taught, that there is but one Substance in the Universe, that God is this Substance, and that all the Beings that exist are only Modifications of this Substance. His Principle is, that nothing can be produced out of nothing, and that a Substance cannot act upon nothing; and that Nonentity could not be the Subject and the Matter upon which God works. From whence he concludes, that since the World exists, it has always existed, and God could not produce it out of nothing. He adds, that there is but one Substance, and this Substance is God, no other thing subsisting of itself independently and necessarily. This one Substance being endued with an infinite number of Properties and Perfections, it is modified after very different Manners. That Body, as it occupies Space, is a Modification of this Substance, as it is extended; and that the Soul is a Modification of the same Substance, as it has the Property of thinking.

The System of Spinosa is alike rejected both by Jews and Christians, and by all good Philosophers: ‘Tis a Revival of the Errors of Epicurus, Democritus, and Lucretius, and is founded on continual Paralogisms: Pretending that every thing in Nature is God, he abolishes the true Idea of God, and he shews, that he has a false Notion of the Creation of the World, maintaining that Nothing could not be the Subject of the Operation of God. When it is said, that God produces Beings out of nothing, it is not understood that the Subject of the Creation was nothing; ‘tis the Substance that he creates, that he forms, and to which he gives at the same time both Existence and Form.

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