Coronis (Appendix to the True Christian Religion) · 1 of 4

Proposition the First

1.THE CORONIS, OR APPENDIX TO THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION These three things, - the Consummation of the Age, the Coming of the Lord, and the New Church-have, it is true, been treated of in the last chapter of the work entitled The True Christian Religion. The reason why a Continuation follows concerning them, is because no one has hitherto known what the Consummation of the Age is, why the Second Coming of the Lord must take place, or that the New Church is about to come; and yet these three subjects are treated of in both the Prophetic and the Apostolic Word, and fully in the Apocalypse. That these three subjects are treated of in the Prophetic Word of the Old Testament, was made evident to me while it was granted me to lay it open by means of the spiritual sense; and in like manner that they are treated of in the Prophetic [part] of the New Testament, which is called the Apocalypse: that they are also in the Evangelic and Apostolic Word, will be plain from the following pages. Hence it follows, that, without a knowledge of the Consummation of the Age, the Second Coming of the Lord, and the New Church, the Word is as it were shut up; nor can anything but knowledges open it: these are like keys which open the door and introduce. When this takes place with the Word, then the treasures, which lay concealed therein as at the bottom of the sea, come into view; for, at the bottom, there are in the Word nothing else but precious things. In this Appendix or Continuation, I shall proceed, in like manner as in the work itself, by prefixed Summaries, which will be confirmed from Scripture and illustrated from reason.

2.PROPOSITION THE FIRST. I. There have been four churches on this earth from the day of its creation: the First, which is to be called the Adamic; the Second, the Noachian; the Third, the Israelitish; and the Fourth, the Christian. That four churches have existed on this earth since the creation of the world, manifestly appears in Daniel; first, from the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream, and, afterwards, from the four beasts rising up out of the sea. Concerning the statue of Nebuchadnezzar we read as follows: Daniel said, Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great statue. And the appearance thereof was excellent, standing before thee, and the aspect thereof was terrible. The head of this statue was of good gold; its breast and arms, of silver; its belly and its thighs, of brass; its legs, of iron; its feet, partly of iron and partly of clay. Thou sawest until a stone was cut out, which was not by hands, and smote the statue upon its feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them in pieces. Then were the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken in pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; so that the wind carried them away, and no place was found for them: but the stone, which smote the statue, became a great rock, and filled the whole earth. In these days shall the God of the heavens raise up a kingdom, which shall not be destroyed to the ages; and His kingdom shall not be entrusted to another people: it shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, but it shall stand to the ages (Dan. 2:31-35, 44). This dream did not signify four political kingdoms on this earth, but four churches, which should follow one after another, may be evident from the following considerations: (1) That such kingdoms, one after another, have not existed on this earth. (2) That the Divine Word, in its bosom, does not treat of the kingdoms of the world, but of churches, which constitute the kingdom of God on the earth. (3) Also, because it is said that the God of the heavens shall raise up a kingdom which shall not be destroyed to the ages, and that a stone, cut out, not by hands, became a great rock, which filled the whole earth. (4) And, because the Lord our Saviour Jesus Christ, in the Word of both Testaments, is called the “Stone” and “Rock,” it is manifest that His kingdom is meant by the last words in this passage. (5) Moreover, the state of the church is described, in innumerable passages of the Word, by “gold,” “silver,” “brass,” and “iron;” its spiritual state as to the good of love by “gold,” its spiritual state as to the truth of wisdom by “silver,” its natural state as to the good of charity by “brass,” and its natural state as to the truth of faith by “iron,” as may be seen confirmed from the Word in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 913), and elsewhere. [2] For this reason, the wise in the first ages, who knew the significations of metals, compared the ages, which were to follow one another from the first to the last, to those four metals, and called the first age “golden,” the second age “silver,” the third age “copper,” and the fourth age “iron;” and they described them thus according to goods and truths; and because genuine goods and truths are from no other origin than from the God of heaven, they described them according to the states of the church with those who lived in those ages; for from these, and according to these, all the civil states of kingdoms as to justice and judgment exist, flourish and live. [3] That the Lord the Saviour Jesus Christ is called the “Stone” and “Rock” in the Word of both Testaments, is plain from the following passages. That He is called a “Stone” from these: Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Behold I will found in Zion a Stone of probation, a precious corner of well-established foundation; he who hath believed will not make haste; then I will set judgment for the rule, and justice for the plummet (Isa. 28:16, 17). Jehovah will visit His flock. From Him is the cornerstone (Zech. 10:3, 4). The stone which the architects rejected is become the head of the corner (Ps. 118:22). Have ye not read in the Scripture that the Stone which the builders rejected is become the head of the corner? (Matt. 21:42; Mark 12:10, 11; Luke 20:17, 18; Isa. 8:14, 15). Ye have come to the Lord, the living Stone, rejected indeed of men, but chosen of God; ye yourselves also, as living stones, are built up into a spiritual house;…therefore, it is said in the Scripture, I lay in Zion a corner-stone, elect, precious, and he who believeth on Him shall not be ashamed (1 Peter 2:4-6). Ye are built upon the foundations of the apostles and prophets, whose corner-stone is Jesus Christ, by whom the whole building, well cemented together, groweth into a holy temple in the Lord; by whom ye are built together into a habitation of God in the spirit (Eph. 2:20, 21, 22). Jesus Christ is the Stone, rejected by the builders, which is become the head of the corner; and there is no salvation in any other (Acts 4:11, 12). The Lord is called the “Rock,” is evident from these passages in the Word: When Jeshurun became fat, he kicked…and he forsook God who made him, and despised the Rock of his salvation (Deut. 32:15, 18, 30). The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me (2 Sam. 23:3). Let the words of my mouth be well-pleasing, O Jehovah, my Rock and my Redeemer (Ps. 19:14). And they remembered that God was their Rock, and the High God their Redeemer (Ps. 78:35). They all drank spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual Rock; the Rock was Christ (1 Cor. 10:4; Exod. 17:6). From these passages, it is now manifestly evident, that by the “Stone” which smote the statue, and became a great rock and filled the whole earth, and whose kingdom shall stand to ages of ages, is meant our Lord Jesus Christ.

3.The same four churches on this earth are described by four “beasts” rising up out of the sea, in Daniel, of which it is there written: The first was seen like a lion, but it had eagle’s wings. I beheld until the wings thereof were plucked out, and it was lifted up from the earth, and it was erect like a man upon feet, and a man’s heart was given to it. Afterwards, behold another beast, a second, like a bear, and it raised up itself on one side; three ribs were in its mouth between the teeth: moreover, they were saying thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. After these things, I beheld, and, lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings, like birds’ wings; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this, I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, terrible and dreadful, and strong exceedingly, which had great iron teeth; it devoured and brake in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet; but it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns. I beheld till the thrones were cast down and the Ancient of days did sit; and the judgment was set, and the books were opened; and behold, one like the Son of man was coming with the clouds of the heavens. And there was given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations and tongues should worship Him: His dominion is a dominion of an age, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not perish (chap. 7:3-7, 9, 10, 13, 14, seq.). By these beasts, in like manner, are meant and described those four churches, is manifest from all the particulars there, which shall be unfolded in their order in the following pages: more especially from the last expressions there, that after those four beasts the Son of man will come, to whom shall be given dominion, and a kingdom which shall not pass away and perish; who, also, is meant by “the Stone made into a great Rock, which shall fill the whole earth,” as may be seen above (n. 2, at the end). [2] That the states of the church are likewise described in the Word by beasts, as well as by metals, is evident from numberless passages, some only of which I will adduce here; which are as follows: Thou causest the rain of benevolences to drop; thou wilt confirm thy laboring inheritance; the beast of thy assembly shall dwell therein (Ps. 68:9, 10). Every wild beast of the forest is Mine, the beasts in the mountains of thousands; I know every bird of the mountains, the beasts of My fields are with Me (Ps. 50:10, 11). Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon, his height was exalted; all the birds of the heavens made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth, and in his shadow dwelt all great nations (Ezek. 31:3, 5, 6, 13; Dan. 4:7-13). In that day will I make a covenant for them with the beast of the field, and with the bird of the heavens, and I will betroth Myself unto thee to eternity (Hos. 2:18, 19). Rejoice and be glad, fear not, ye beasts of My fields, for the habitations of the desert are become herbaceous (Joel 2:21, 22). Thou, son of man, say to the bird of every wing, and to every beast of the field, Gather yourselves together to My sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel: thus I will give My glory among the nations (Ezek. 39:17, 20, 21). The enemy hath reproached Jehovah; give not the soul of the turtledove unto the beast (Ps. 74:18, 19). Jehovah gathereth the outcasts of Israel; every beast of My fields, come ye (Isa. 56:8, 9). The spirit driving Jesus, caused Him to go forth into the wilderness; and He was with the beasts, and the angels ministered unto Him (Mark 1:12, 13). He was not with beasts, but with devils, with whom He fought and whom He subdued; besides a thousand other passages, which are in part adduced in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 567). Moreover, it is known that the Lord Himself, in the Word, is called a “Lamb” and also a “Lion;” likewise, that the Holy Spirit was represented as a “dove;” that the “cherubim,” also, by which the Word in the literal sense is signified, appeared like “four beasts,” in Ezekiel and in the Apocalypse; and that the man of the church who acknowledges the Lord as his God and Shepherd, is called a “sheep;” and, on the other hand, he who does not acknowledge Him, is called a “he-goat” and also a “dragon;” and that an assembly of the latter is described, in like manner as in Daniel, by: The beast out of the sea like a leopard, the feet of which were as it were a bear’s, and his mouth as it were a lion’s (Apoc. 13:1, 2). These comparisons originate from the spiritual world, where all the affections and the thoughts therefrom, of angels and spirits, are presented at a distance from them as beasts which also appear in a form in all respects similar to that of the beasts in the natural world; the affections of the love of good as gentle beasts and good uses, but the affections of the love of evil as savage beasts and evil uses. Hence it is that “beasts” are so often named in the Word; and by them in the spiritual sense are signified affections, inclinations, perceptions and thoughts. From these things it is manifest what is meant by “creatures” in the following passages: Jesus commanded the disciples to go into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark 16:15). If anyone be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things have passed away, and all things are become new (2 Cor. 5:17). These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creature of God (Apoc. 3:14). By “creatures,” here, are meant those who can be created anew, that is, regenerated, and thus become of the Lord’s church.

4.That there have been four churches on this earth, one before the flood, which is to be called the Adamic; the second, after the flood, which is to be called the Noachic; and the third, after this, which was the Israelitish; also the fourth, which exists at this day, and is called the Christian, will be demonstrated in the following pages, in the exposition of each of them separately.

5.II. There have been four successive states, or periods, of each church, which in the Word are meant by “morning,” “day,” “evening,” and “night.” That there have been four successive states, or periods, of every one of these churches above mentioned, will be illustrated in the following pages, wherein each will be dealt with in its order. They are described by those alternations of time, because every man who is born in the church, or in whom the church has commenced, first comes into its light, such as that is in the dawn and morning; afterwards, he advances into its day, and, he who loves its truths, even to its mid-day; if he then stops in the way, and does not advance into the heat of spring and summer, his day declines towards evening, and at length, like light at night-time, it grows dark; and then his intelligence in the spiritual things of the church becomes a cold light, like the light of the days in winter, when he indeed sees the trees standing near his house, or in his gardens, but stript of leaves and deprived of fruits, thus like bare logs. For, the man of the church advances from morning to day, to the end that he may be reformed and regenerated by means of the light of reason, which is effected only by a life according to the precepts of the Lord in the Word. If this does not take place, his light becomes darkness, and the darkness, thick darkness; that is, the truths of light with him are turned into falsities, and the falsities into unseen evils. It is otherwise with the man who suffers himself to be regenerated: night does not overtake him, for he walks in God, and hence is continually in the day; into which, also, he fully enters after death, when he is associated with angels in heaven. This is meant by these things in the Apocalypse, concerning the New Jerusalem, which is the New Church, truly Christian: That city shall have no need of the sun and moon to shine in it; for the glory of God shall lighten it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof; and the nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it and there shall be no night there (21:23-25; Ezek. 32:8; Amos. 5:20; 8:9). That the successive states of the church are meant by “morning,” “day,” “evening,” and “night,” in the Word, is evident from the following passages therein: Watch; for ye know not when the Lord of the house will come, at even, or at midnight, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning (Mark 13:35; Matt. 25:13). The subject there treated of is the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord at that time: The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me; he is as the light of the morning, a morning without clouds (2 Sam. 23:3, 4). I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star (Apoc. 22:16). God shall help her, when He shall look to the morning (Ps. 46:5). He is calling to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night (Isa. 21:11, 12). The end is come upon thee, O inhabitant of the land; the time is come, the day is near. Behold the day, behold, it is come; the morning hath gone forth (Ezek. 7:5-7, 10). There shall be a day which shall be known to Jehovah; not day nor night; for about the time of evening there shall be light (Zech. 14:7). About the time of evening, behold, terror; before the morning, he is not (Isa. 17:14). In the evening, weeping will tarry all night, but there will be singing in the morning (Ps. 30:5). Even to the evening and the morning, two thousand three hundred; then shall the holy place be justified: the vision of the evening and morning is truth (Dan. 8:14, 26). Jehovah in the morning will give His judgement in the light; He will not fail (Zeph. 3:5). Thus said Jehovah, If ye have made void My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, so that there be not day and night in their season, My covenant also shall be made void with David My servant (Jer. 33:20, 21, 25). Jesus said, I must work the works of God while it is day; the night cometh when no one can work (John 9:4). In this night there shall be two on one bed; one shall be taken, but the other shall be left (Luke 17:34). In these passages, it treats of the consummation of the age and the Coming of the Lord. Hence it may be evident what is meant by “There shall be time no longer” (Apoc. 10:6); namely, that there would not be morning, day, or evening in the church, but night; likewise what is meant by “time, times, and half a time” (Apoc. 12:14; Dan. 12:7); as also what is meant by the “fulness of time” (Eph. 1:10; Gal. 4:4).

6.III. In each church there have been four successive changes of state; the first of which was the appearing of the Lord Jehovih and redemption, and then its morning, or rise: the second was its instruction, and then its day, or progression: the third was its decline; and then its evening or vastation: the fourth was its end; and then its night or consummation. That there have been four successive states of each church, which in the Word are meant by “morning,” “day,” “evening,” and “night,” has been shown in the preceding article. That every one of the four churches mentioned above underwent those states, will be fully established in the following pages, where each will be dealt with in its order; and then that the appearing of the Lord Jehovih and redemption was its “morning;” that instruction was its “day” or progression into light; also, that decline was its “evening” or vastation; and that its end was its “night” or consummation. In the Word, both in its historical and its prophetical parts, those four changes of state are everywhere treated of.

7.The order into which every man was created by God, is, that after infancy he may become a man. For when he is born, he is only an external image or form of a man, and at that time less a man than a new-born beast is a beast; but, so far as he is inwardly perfected in this form, as to his mind, or his spirit, in wisdom and love, he becomes a man. A man is like a tree, which first grows up from a seed into a shoot, and when it increases in height puts forth branches and from these stems, and clothes itself continually with leaves; and when it comes to maturity, which takes place in its middle age, puts forth flowers, and produces fruits; in each one it places seeds, which being cast into the earth, as into a womb, grow up into similar trees and thus into a garden. And if you are willing to believe it, that same garden remains with the man after death; he dwells in it, and is delighted daily with the sight of it, and with the use of its fruits. It is such a man who is described in David by these words: He shall be like a tree planted beside the rivers of waters, which shall bring forth its fruit in its season, and its leaf shall not fall off (Ps. 1:3 and likewise Rev. 22:1-2). [2] But the case is different with the man born in the church, who, when he has passed through his morning, and advanced into the first light of day, whereby he has become rational, then stops, and does not produce fruit: such a one is, or may be, like a tree luxuriant with leaves, but not bearing fruit, which is uprooted from the garden, its branches cut off, and the trunk cleft in pieces with axe, or saw, and the whole then cast little by little into the fire. The light of his rational becomes like the light of the days of winter, in which the leaves of the trees first grow yellow, then drop off, and lastly rot. His rational, also, may be compared with a tree whose leaves are consumed by worms in early spring; likewise with a crop that is choked by thorns; and also with vegetation which is laid waste by locusts. The reason is, that his rational is merely natural, because it takes its ideas solely from the world through the senses, and not from heaven through the affections and the perceptions therefrom. And since, on this account, there is nothing spiritual inwardly in his rational, if he then speaks of any spiritual thing of the church, his voice is heard by the angels no otherwise than as the voice of a parrot or a goose; for his voice is merely animal, because merely natural, and not human because not spiritual within; for it flows forth from the respiration of the body only, and not from any respiration of the spirit. Such is the man who does not, from natural, become spiritual; and no one becomes spiritual, unless, after he has become rational, he brings forth fruits, that is, imbues charity by life.

8.The four changes of state, which are called “morning,” “day,” “evening,” and “night,” are in the Word predicated of the church, because the church consists of men, and a man is a church in particular, and the assembly of these men is what is called the church. Those in this assembly or the church, who live according to the order described above (n. 7), are trees of life, which also are trees of good use; but those who do not live according to that order are trees of the knowledge of good and evil, which also are trees of evil use. The latter are those of whom “evening” and “night,” or, what is the same, vastation and consummation, are predicated; but not the former. These things, however, will be made evident to the reason in the following pages; but it is proper, that, at the beginning of this volume, some preliminary observations should be made, because knowledges must precede before any one can know that by “morning” is meant the rise of the church, and that this is preceded by redemption; by “day,” the progression of the new church into light, and its intelligence; by “evening,” the decline of that church from good and truth, which is called vastation; and by “night,” its end and destruction, which is called consummation; and so on.

9.The end of the church, or the consummation of the age, is when there is not any genuine truth and hence not any genuine good, or when there is not any good and hence not any truth remaining, but, in their place falsity and evil therefrom, or evil and falsity therefrom, rule; and then there is the “fullness [of time]” in the church, the members of which are like persons walking in the night, who, because they do not see anything that appears in the light of the sun, are in doubt about all things relating to the church, and in general about God, heaven and hell, and the life after death; and both those who confirm themselves in the denial of these things, and those who remain alternately in doubt and in affirmation, become shunners of the light, and, if they are priests, they procure to themselves a false light on those subjects, such as night-owls, cats, and mice have in the darkness of night. This light is excited with them, as with these wild beasts, through the activities of their lusts.

10.IV. After its consummation, or end, the Lord Jehovih appears, and executes a judgment on the men of the former church, and separates the good from the evil, and elevates the good to Himself into heaven, and removes the evil from Himself into hell. That about the end of every church the Lord Jehovih appears to execute a judgment on those who have lived from its first establishment to its consummation, will be confirmed in the following pages, where each church will be separately treated of. Every man indeed is judged after death; but at the end of a church all are collected together, and a general judgment is executed on them; and this for the reason that they may be conjoined in heavenly order, which is effected by the arrangement of the faithful into a new heaven, and of the unfaithful into a new hell beneath it; of which arrangement we shall speak more at large in the following article.

11.Judgment, which is the last of every church, is not effected in the natural world, but in the spiritual world, into which all are gathered after death; and they are collected into heavens distinctly according to religion, thus according to faith and love. Judgment is effected in the spiritual world, for the reason that every man after death is a man; not a material man, as before, but a substantial man. Every man’s mind or spirit is such a man: the body which he carried about in the world is only a covering, and as it were the exuviae, which he has laid aside, and from which his spirit has disengaged itself. Now, since it was man’s mind or spirit that thought in the material body, and then either from religion or not from religion, and in favor of God or against God, from truths of faith or from falsities of faith, loved his neighbor or held him in hatred; and since the material body was only obedience; it follows that the mind, which is the substantial man and is called the spirit, is what undergoes judgment, and, according to the thoughts and acts of its life, is rewarded or punished. From these things it may be plainly manifest, that judgment, which is the last of every church, is effected in the spiritual world, but not in the natural world.

12.The judgment which is executed upon all of a past church, takes place, both generally and individually, to the end that the good may be separated from the evil, and that the good may be raised up into heaven and the evil cast down into hell. Unless this were done when a church is consummated, that is, when it is no longer in truths and goods, not anyone therein could be saved. That he could not be saved is because he could not be regenerated; and everyone is regenerated by the truths of faith and the goods of love. To this reason the following is added, that from the time of the vastation of a church even to its consummation, hell increases to so great an extent as to stretch under the whole angelic heaven, through which the regenerating truths and goods descend from the Lord to the men of the earth. When this is covered over, no truth of thought from faith nor good of will from charity can penetrate, except as it were through chinks; yea, what does penetrate is perverted either in the way before it reaches man, or else by the man himself when it is in him; that is, the truth is either rejected or falsified, and the good is either clogged up or adulterated. In a word, a church at its end is as it were obsessed by satans. Those are called satans who take pleasure in falsities and are delighted with evils. In order, therefore, that the total damnation which is then over everyone’s head, and menaces him, may be taken away, it is necessary that hell, which has raised itself on high, and, as was said, increased even to heaven, should be removed, not merely depressed, but also dispersed and subjugated, and then the good separated from the evil, that is, the living from the dead. This separation, and then the elevation of the good into heaven, or into the land of the living, and the casting down of the evil into hell, or into the land of the dead, is what is called the judgment. That such a judgment was actually executed in the year 1757 on the men of the present Christian Church, has been published and described, in a special little work published in London in the year 1758.

13.Who does not see the necessity that the evil should be separated from the good, lest the latter should be infected with the contagion of deadly evil, and perish? For evil, inasmuch as it is implanted in human nature by birth, and is more and more ingenerated in children from parents when the church is advancing towards consummation, is like the malignant disease which is called cancer, which spreads round about, and gradually mortifies the healthy and living parts. What husbandman, or gardener, when he sees briars, nettles, thorns, and thistles growing, does not extirpate them before he sows and harrows in his corn and food crops? What farmer, when he sees his herbage and grass consumed by worms, or locusts, does not dig a ditch, and separate the green field from the wasted one, and thus take treasures for the preservation of his crops and green fields? What shepherd, when he sees wild beasts multiplying about the pastures of his sheep, does not call together the neighboring shepherds and the servants, and with weapons, or traps, kill those wild beasts, or drive them away? [2] What king, when he sees both the towns of his kingdom round about his metropolis taken by enemies, and the property of his subjects taken possession of by them, does not assemble the troops and cast out the enemy, and restore the stolen goods to their owners, and, moreover, add thereto the spoils of the enemies wealth, and so comfort them?

14.V. After these things the Lord Jehovih founds a new heaven from the good elevated to Himself, and from the evil removed from Himself a new hell; and in both He establishes order, so that they may stand under His auspices, and under obedience to Him, to eternity. It is written in Isaiah: Jehovah said, Behold I create new heavens and a new earth (55:17); and elsewhere in the same prophet: As the new heavens and the new earth, which I am about to make, shall stand before Me (56:22); in the Apocalypse: I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the former heaven and the former earth have passed away (21:1); and in Peter: According to promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein justice shall dwell (2 Epist. 3:13). It has not hitherto entered into the mind of anyone to suppose otherwise, than that by “heaven,” in these places, is meant the visible heaven, that is, the whole firmament, together with the sun, moon and stars; and that by “earth,” there, is meant the habitable earth, or the globe, and that these will perish at the day of the Last Judgment; when nevertheless by “heaven” there the angelic heaven is meant, and by “earth” the church. That by “earth” everywhere in the prophetic Word is meant the church, has been fully shown in the Apocalypse Revealed (n. 285). The reason why by “new heavens” and a “new earth” have been hitherto understood the visible heaven and the habitable earth, is because men have not known anything of the spiritual world, consequently not anything of the angelic heaven, nor anything of the prophetic sense, which carries and stores up nothing but spiritual things; and the spiritual meaning of “earth” is the church. When, indeed, the angels, inasmuch as they are spiritual, look down into the earth, they see nothing at all of it, but only the church with men.

15.When the Lord Jehovih founds a new heaven and a new church, He introduces order, so that they may stand under His auspices and under obedience to Him to eternity. This is because the angelic heaven and the church on the earth together constitute one body, whose soul and life is the Lord Jehovih, who is the Lord our Saviour. The whole angelic heaven together with the church also appears before the Lord as one man; and a man stands under the auspices of, and under obedience to his soul: thus the entire heaven together with the church, is under the auspices of, and under obedience to, the Lord; for the Lord is in them and they are in the Lord (John 14:20; 15:4, 5; 17:23, 26); thus, He is the all in all there. But the order which the Lord induces on hell is such that all who are there may be diametrically opposite to all who are in heaven: whence it is evident that since the Lord rules heaven He also rules hell, and that He rules the latter by means of the former.

16.Moreover, the arrangement of all in the heavens and of all in the hells is most perfect. For every heaven that is founded by the Lord after the consummation of each church is made threefold: it is made highest, middle, and lowest. Into the highest are elevated those who are in love to the Lord and in wisdom thence; into the middle those who are in spiritual love towards the neighbor and in intelligence thence; into the lowest those who are in spiritual-natural love towards the neighbor, which is called charity, and thence in the faith of the truths concerning God, and in a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue. These three heavens constitute three expanses, one above another, and they communicate with each other by the Divine influx from the Lord out of the sun of the spiritual world. In the deep below there are also three expanses, into which the hells are distinguished, between which in like manner there is provided a communication by means of an influx through the heavens from the Lord. By means of these communications there is effected a close and indissoluble conjunction of all things in the heavens, and of all things in the hells; but in the latter it is a conjunction of all the lusts of the love of evil, while in the heavens it is a conjunction of all the affections of the love of good. By virtue of that conjunction, heaven is like one Lord sitting upon a throne girt about with wreaths formed of precious stones of every kind; but hell is like one devil sitting upon a seat entwined with vipers, serpents and poisonous worms. From this orderly arrangement, induced on both, it follows that both stand under the auspices and under obedience to the Lord to eternity.

17.It is known, that, in order that anything may be perfect, there must be a trine in just order, one under another, and a communication between, and that this trine must constitute a one; no otherwise than as a pillar is a one, at the top of which is the capital, under this the smooth shaft, and under this again the pedestal. Such a trine is man: his highest part is the head, his middle part is the body, and his lowest the feet and soles. In this, every kingdom is like a man; there must be a king in it as the head, also administrators and officers as the body, and yeomanry with servants as feet and soles: in like manner in the church, there must be a filleted primate, parish priests, and curates under them. Nor does the world itself subsist without three things following in order, namely, morning, noon, and evening; as also the yearly spring, summer, and autumn; spring for the sowing of seeds, summer for their germination, and autumn for bringing forth fruit: but night and winter do not contribute to the stability of the world. [2] Now since every perfect thing must be a trine and cohere well together, in order to be a one, therefore each world, both spiritual and natural, consists and subsists from three atmospheres or elements; the first of which immediately encompasses the sun and is called aura; the second is under this and is called ether; and the third is under them both and is called air. In the natural world these three atmospheres are natural, and in themselves passive, because they proceed from a sun which is pure fire; but the three corresponding to them in the spiritual world are spiritual, and in themselves active, because they proceed from a sun which is pure love. [3] The angels of the heavens dwell in the regions of these three atmospheres; the angels of the highest heaven in the celestial aura, which immediately encompasses the sun where the Lord is; the angels of the middle heaven in the spiritual ether under the former; and the angels of the lowest heaven in the spiritual-natural air under those two. Thus are all the heavens co-established, from the first to this last which is being organized by the Lord at the present day. From these things it may be apprehended whence it is that by “three” in the Word is signified what is complete (see Apocalypse Revealed, n. 505, 875).

18.VI. From this new heaven the Lord Jehovih derives and produces a new church on earth, which is effected by a revelation of truths from His mouth, or from His Word, and by inspiration. It is written: John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband (Apoc. 21:2). By “the holy city, New Jerusalem,” is meant the doctrine of the New Church, thus the church as to doctrine; and, by “Jerusalem descending from God, out of the new heaven,” is meant that the true doctrine of the church is from no other source. That the doctrine descended, is because a church is a church from doctrine and according to it; without it, a church is no more a church than a man is a man without members, viscera and organs, or from the cutaneous covering alone, which only defines his external shape; nor any more than a house is a house without bed-chambers, dining rooms, and furniture within, thus from the walls and arched roof alone. It is similar with the church without doctrine. That “Jerusalem” signifies the church as to doctrine, may be seen proved from the Word in the work itself, The True Christian Religion (n. 782). From these things, it is manifest that the church on the earth is derived and produced by the Lord through the angelic heaven.

19.I will mention some strange things, which yet are not strange in heaven; they are as follow: (1) That the natural world could not exist except from the spiritual world; consequently, it could not subsist, inasmuch as subsistence is perpetual existence. (2) That the church cannot exist in man, unless its internal be spiritual and its external natural. A church purely spiritual does not exist, nor a church merely natural. (3) Consequently, that there cannot be raised up any church, nor anything of the church with man, without an angelic heaven, through which everything spiritual is derived and descends from the Lord. (4) Since therefore the spiritual and the natural thus make one, it follows that the one cannot exist and subsist without the other; the angelic heaven not without the church with man, nor the church with him without the angelic heaven; for, unless the spiritual flow into and terminate in the natural, and rest therein, it is like a prior without a posterior, thus like an efficient cause without an effect, and like an active without a passive, which would be like a bird perpetually flying in the air without any resting place on the earth. It is also like the mind of a man perpetually thinking and willing, without any organ of sense and motion in the body, to which it may descend and produce the ideas of its thought and bring into operation the efforts of its will. (5) These things are adduced, to the end that it may be perceived or known, that as the natural world cannot exist without the spiritual world, nor conversely the spiritual world without the natural world, so neither can there be a church on the earth unless there be an angelic heaven through which it may exist and subsist, nor conversely an angelic heaven unless there be a church on the earth. (6) The angels know this; on which account, they bitterly lament when the church on earth is desolated by falsities and consummated by evils; and then they compare the state of their life with drowsiness; for then heaven is to them as a seat withdrawn, and like a body deprived of feet; but when the church on the earth has been restored by the Lord, they compare the state of their life to wakefulness.

20.That the Lord derives and produces the New Church on earth through the New Heaven by means of a revelation of truths from His mouth, or from His Word, and by inspiration, will be shown in the section on the four churches in their order, especially on the Israelitish Church, and on the present Christian Church. It should be known that when hell has increased, and has passed over the great interstice or gulf fixed between itself and heaven (Luke 16:26), and has raised up its back even to the confines of the heavens where the angels are, which came to pass during the interval of the vastation and consummation of the church, not any doctrine of the church could be conveyed by the Lord through heaven to the men of the earth. The reason is that man is then in the midst of satans; and satans envelop his head with their falsities, and inspire the delights of evil and the consequent pleasures of falsity, whereby all the light out of heaven is darkened, and all the agreeableness and pleasantness of truth is intercepted. [2] As long as this state continues, not any doctrine of truth and good out of heaven can be infused into man, because it is falsified; but after this tangled veil of falsities, or covering of the head by satans, has been taken away by the Lord, which is effected by the Last Judgment (of which above, in Article IV), then man is led in a freer and more spontaneous spirit to discard falsities and to receive truths. With those who adapt themselves, and suffer themselves to be led by the Lord, the doctrine of the New Heaven, which is the doctrine of truth and good, is afterwards conveyed down and introduced, like the morning dew falling from heaven to the earth, which opens the pores of plants, and sweetens their vegetable juices: and it is like the manna which fell in the mornings, and was in appearance: Like coriander seed, white, and in taste like a cake kneaded with honey (Exod. 16:31). It is also like seasonable rain, which refreshes the newly-ploughed fields and causes germination; and it is like the fragrance exhaling from fields, gardens, and flowery plains, which the breast gladly and readily draws in with the air. But, still, the Lord does not compel, nor does He urge anyone against his will, as one does with whips a beast of burden; but He draws and afterwards continually leads him who is willing, in all appearance as though the willing man did goods and believed truths of himself, when yet it is from the Lord, who operates every genuine good of life and every genuine truth of faith in him.

21.VII. This Divine work taken together is called redemption, without which no man can be saved, because not regenerated. That the redemption accomplished by the Lord when He was in the world, was the subjugation of the hells, the arrangement of the heavens in order, and by these a preparation for a new spiritual church, may be seen in the work, The True Christian Religion (n. 115-117; and likewise from n. 118-133). But inasmuch as this is new, and has lain hidden for ages, like the wreck of a ship with its valuable wares at the bottom of the sea, and nevertheless the doctrine of redemption is as it were the treasury of all the spiritual riches, or the dogmas of the New Church, therefore, in the last section of this volume, the mystery of redemption shall be treated of, where the following propositions will be unfolded and presented in the light: I. Deliverance from enemies is what in the Word is called redemption. II. Consequently, it is a deliverance from evils and falsities; which, since they are from hell, are spiritual enemies; for they kill souls, as natural enemies do bodies III. Hence it becomes evident that the first of the redemption accomplished by the Lord was the separation of the evil from the good, and the elevation of the good to Himself into heaven, and the removal of the evil from Himself into hell, for thus the good are freed from the evil. This first of redemption is the Last Judgment (which has been treated of above, n. 10-13). IV. The second of redemption was the coordination of all things in the heavens, and the subordination of all things in hell, by which the good were still more distinctly separated and freed from the evil; and this is the new heaven and the new hell (which has been treated of above, n. 14-17). V. The third of redemption was a revelation of truths out of the new heaven, and thereby the raising up and establishment of a new church on earth; by which means the good were still further separated and freed from the evil, and are separated and freed for the future (this third has also been treated of above, n. 18-20). VI. The final cause of redemption was the possibility that the Lord, from His Divine omnipotence, might regenerate and thereby save man; for, unless a man be regenerated, he cannot be saved (John 3:3). VII. The regeneration of a man, inasmuch as it is a separation and deliverance from evils and falsities, is a particular redemption by the Lord, existing from His general redemption. VIII. With those who are being regenerated, evils are first of all separated from goods, and this is similar to the judgment: afterwards, goods are collected together into one, and arranged in a heavenly form, and this is similar to the new heaven; and, lastly, a new church is implanted and produced thereby, the internal of which is heaven; and the external from the internal, consequently both together, with man, are called the church. IX. All are redeemed, since all who reject the falsities of the former church, and receive the truths of the New Church, can be regenerated; but still the regenerated are properly the redeemed. X. The goal of redemption, and the prize of the redeemed, a spiritual peace. XI. A redemption has also been accomplished by the Lord at this day, because at this day is His Second Coming according to prophecy; by which, having been an eye-witness thereof I have been made certain of the truth of the foregoing arcana. But these are only summaries, which must be unfolded one by one, and set forth in both spiritual and natural light, at the end of this volume, where the mystery of redemption is to be treated of.

22.Moreover, it will be proved in its own section in the following pages, that the Lord’s passion of the cross was not redemption, but the means of the inmost union with the Divine of the Father, from which He came forth, and into which He returned. In the work, The True Christian Religion (n. 132, 133), to which this volume is an Appendix, I undertook to demonstrate that the belief that the passion of the cross is redemption itself, is a fundamental error of the present Christian Church; and that this error, together with the error concerning three Divine Persons from eternity, has perverted the whole church to such an extent, that there is not a vestige of what is spiritual remaining in it. This will also be further shown in the following pages; also, that those two falsities and impostures have been comparatively like impregnated butterflies flying about in the garden, which lay worm-producing eggs that being hatched out, entirely consume the leaves of the trees there; and further, that they have been like the quails from the sea let down upon the camp of the Israelites, owing to which, while they were eating, a great plague was brought upon the people; and this for the reason that they loathed and spurned the manna from heaven, by which, in the highest sense, is meant the Lord (Num. 11:5, 6, 32-35; and John 6:31, 32, 49-51, 58). And further, those two errors were like two fragments of soot, or shoemaker’s blacking, dropped into generous wine, and shaken about in the glass, in consequence of which all the brightness, delightful fragrance, and fine flavor of the wine are changed into a black appearance, a disagreeable smell, and a nauseous taste.